Mischief and Misunderstandings
by Krissy001
Summary: One elven festival, ten barrels of enchanted water, and a whole lot of elfling mischief. What can this add up to except chaos, humor, and a complete disaster?
1. Chapter 1

**Summary: One elven festival, ten barrels of enchanted water, and a whole lot of elfling mischief. What can this add up to except chaos, humor, and a complete disaster?**

**Note: I wanted to stick to cannon, I really did, but occasionally the temptation to abandon it in favor of humor was too much to resist… I don't think I did anything too major though :D. Also, some of the characters are a little OOC, as I am not Tolkien and really cannot write the characters the way he did. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Lord of the Rings or any other works of Tolkien. **

**Any words in a language you don't recognize? A place you've never heard of? Be sure to check the description at the bottom of the chapter. **

**Also, thanks to anyone reading this who previously read my other Fanfiction story 'Sweet Valar, What have we Done?' and favorited or reviewed; your support is appreciated and keeps me writing! **

Chapter 1

The First Day

The normally placid settlement of Imladris was in a state that could be described as chaotic. Elves that would usually leisurely stroll about were now as near to a sprint as one could be without actually running, and many were coming close to crashing into each other as they hurriedly made their ways to wherever it was they were going. The cause for Rivendell's state was not hard to discover, as one must only risk the possibility of being snapped at by an anxious elf when asking, to find that, "A festival is soon to be held in Rivendell and all must be prepared for the arriving guests. Now stop bothering me and go do something productive!"

The aforementioned guests were elves from both Greenwood and Lothlorien. Some were nobles, invited to attend, while others were merely looking to be entertained, but all were relying on their host to have everything prepared, not to mention perfect. This may have been asking too much of their host however, as he seemed to be having enough trouble trying to keep his identical sons in line without the added responsibility of organizing a festival.

"You did _what _to the carpet?!" exclaimed a shocked looking lord Elrond.

"Erestor said he wanted it cleaned! How we supposed to know that he only wanted us to shake the dust out of it?" answered one son, throwing his hands up in exasperation. The other was holding up a once beautifully dyed carpet, now dripping wet with all of its colors running together.

Elrond pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, "Well, lay it out to dry somewhere, and we will see if anything can be done to save it later."

His twin sons turned and began to leave, only for another elf to come in. The blonde-haired and blue-eyed ellon looked slightly taken aback at the state of Rivendell's flooring, and turned to Elrond; looking for an explanation. He received a glare and a curt, "Do not ask, Glorfindel!" instead.

Glorfindel wisely did not, and instead said, "I thought to inform you that all proceedings are running smoothly and everything shall be ready for the Greenwood's guests arrival, so long as there are no unforeseen complications."

Elrond visibly relaxed, much to the other elf's amusement.

"There are only twelve more days of this, Elrond, and then all shall go back to as it was," he chuckled.

Elrond simply sighed before changing the topic, "Have any of the Rivendell patrols come across our Greenwood guests?"

"Not yet, my lord, however, I am-," Glorfindel's statement was suddenly cut off by a distant shout of, "What have you done to that carpet?!"

It seemed that Celebrian had discovered Elladan's and Elrohir's erroneous attempt at cleaning.

Meanwhile, not very far from Rivendell, the Greenwood visitors were about to have their first encounter with a Rivendell patrol. Riding in a large group around two very similar elves, they all seemed to be at ease amongst the welcoming golden and red leafed trees of Rivendell.

Or at least until an ear-piercing shriek shattered the tranquil air. The outermost ring of elves responded immediately by tightening their group around the other elves in the center and looking about them with an alertness that would have made any captain proud. Their attention only increased as something or someone came crashing through the bushes towards them.

Red leaves exploded into the air as a small, panicked elfling ran through a thicket and into the path in front of them. Only a stride behind him was a much larger elf who was yelling angrily at the smaller, "-my bow! It used to be my grandfather's and you've desecrated it! Pink! I'll kill you, you little orc!"

The smaller elf let out a wail of dismay, "It wasn't me, Faervel!"

Faervel let out an angry bellow and launched himself at the smaller elf, tackling him to the ground while the Greenwood elves watched on, many gaping in surprise and shock. It wasn't long before more elves were sprinting out of the bushes and onto the path, some laughing so hard that they could barely run in a straight line. The elf at the forefront was not laughing however, and had on a rather severe expression, "Faervel! Get off of Lindir at once!"

Faervel didn't seem to have noticed the order he had just been given, and continued trying to strangle the poor, tiny Lindir, who was putting up quite a fight considering his size. Eventually the elf who had spoken was forced to haul Faervel off Lindir himself. In the meantime, some of the other elves had noticed the Greenwood visitors situated not very far away, and were now staring at them with wide eyes, elbowing the elves nearest them. It wasn't long before both groups were completely silent and watching each other rather awkwardly.

The elf who had separated Lindir and Faerval finally broke the silence, "So, er, you would be from Greenwood, wouldn't you?"

The group of Greenwood elves suddenly split apart to allow one of the elves from the center to ride forth. Tall and stern, with a wreath of intertwined red and gold leaves upon his brow, the elf cut an imposing figure, "Yes, we are from Greenwood, here to attend the festival to which Lord Elrond invited us."

The other elf suddenly went pale. "K-king Thranduil, we are m-most honored to have you attend," he stuttered. "Er, we shall escort you the remaining way to Imladris and send forth riders to tell of your coming."

King Thranduil simply nodded and retreated back into the center of the group. The other elf, who was clearly the captain of the patrol, quickly ordered three warriors to run ahead as the rest formed lines on either side of the Greenwood group. The young elf called Lindir looked quite miserable and placed himself as far away from Faervel as possible. Once everyone was in place, the group set off again.

It wasn't long before it had stopped again, this time on a command from King Thranduil.

"Your warrior is injured," he explained to the captain of the Rivendell patrol and gestured to Lindir, who looked quite mortified at having been pointed out, "He is limping."

Lindir was indeed noticeably favoring one leg, but shook his head vehemently; looking completely horrified at the situation, "I-I'm fine, King Thranduil."

Thranduil raised an eyebrow, "You are slowing down the group."

"I… Er, I...," Lindir stuttered awkwardly, looking desperately at his Captain; clearly hoping for some word of support or interference. After all, what did one do when a King from a different realm started showing concern for you?

The Captain, however, was staring at the ground and muttering incessantly to himself, something about inept new warriors and wishing he had become a chef.

The elfling beside Thranduil, who bore a striking resemblance to the King, suddenly spoke up, "He can ride on my horse for the remainder of the way, Adar."

King Thranduil glanced at his son, "If that is what you wish, Legolas, then I have no objection."

Prince Legolas dismounted and began to make his way towards Lindir, who went pale and tried to protest. His eyes went wide in panic, and all that came out was a high pitched squeak.

Legolas looked amused, "Lindir, is it? Well, come along." He grabbed Lindir's arm and guided him back towards his horse.

Once he had mounted, Lindir desperately tried to look as small as possible, not succeeding in the slightest due to the size of the horse he had been forced upon.

A single hand movement from King Thranduil set the whole group in motion once more, and Legolas grabbed the horse's reins; leading it forward.

"So, Lindir, what exactly did you do to inflict your fellow warrior's anger upon yourself?" Legolas asked curiously, staring up at Lindir.

"Er, would you believe me if I said 'nothing', Prince Legolas?" Lindir answered while desperately trying to find a way to address Legolas without looking down at his superior; something that he soon found was impossible.

"Perhaps. What exactly do you mean?" Legolas answered.

Lindir sighed and a look of despair came across his face, "When Faervel pulled his bow from its case, to shoot a rabbit he had seen, he found that someone had painted it pink. It's my first patrol and for some reason he seemed to think that made it my fault. But I didn't do it! I'm not suicidal! And when my father hears about this," Lindir shuddered, "I'll be on patrols and in training for the rest of the week."

Legolas looked confused, "You don't likepatrolling?"

Lindir shook his head miserably, "No, I'd rather be singing or playing my harp, but my father says…" The ellon suddenly broke off and blushed.

Legolas ignored Lindir's obvious embarrassment, "Who is your father?"

Lindir looked relieved at the change of topic, "Maenor, he is the training master of the warriors."

"Really? Then one would think that…" Legolas broke off with a gasp and Lindir looked around to see that they had just come in sight of Rivendell.

From this vantage point, it was quite a spectacular sight. Waterfalls cascaded from the tops of tall cliffs and disappeared into clear pools framed by golden and red leafed trees. The afternoon sun shone brightly, highlighting the beautiful wooden structure that was the Last Homely House. It had been adorned in red and gold gossamer sashes of fabric that draped above paths and between the peaks of the various slanting roofs.

"Oh, this is your first time visiting Rivendell, isn't it, Prince Legolas?"

Legolas merely nodded, wide-eyed, in answer Lindir's question. "It's _beautiful_."

Ahead of them, King Thranduil chuckled, "Don't go falling in love with it, Legolas, we still have need of you in Greenwood."

Legolas nodded, but didn't take his eyes off Rivendell. Even when they finally entered the city, the young princeling kept looking this way and that, trying to take in every bit of it. He only stopped once they entered the courtyard at the main entrance of the last homely house; where Lord Elrond, Lady Celebrian, and their sons, Elladan and Elrohir, awaited the visitors from Greenwood.

King Thranduil gracefully dismounted and swept forward to greet Lord Elrond. It was only a moment before he gestured for Legolas to join him. Once Legolas left, Lindir dismounted the prince's horse as fast as possible. Thinking that he wouldn't be missed amongst the crowd of chattering visitors and warriors, he began to slip quietly away, only for a hand to shoot out and catch his arm.

"Lindir, we hear from Prince Legolas that you played a prank on Faervel," it was one of Elrond's twin sons, Eru knew which, and the other twin and Legolas were just behind him.

Legolas spoke up, "Actually, I said he was accused of playing a prank on Faervel, not that he actually did, Lord Elladan."

"What?!" the twin looked surprised, "You didn't claim the prank, Lindir? Are you insane? I am sure many a warrior would have come forth to thank you for setting that pompous idiot down a notch. Oh, and by the way, Legolas, I'm Elrohir."

Lindir looked at Elrohir knowingly, "But what if the true originators of the prank wanted to claim their work?"

There was a slight pause then Elladan and Elrohir chuckled, "You know us too well, Lindir."

Behind them Legolas let out a soft snort, "You do realize that he is going to get in trouble from his father for that, don't you, my lords?"

The twins looked at Legolas, shocked, and then back at Lindir, "You won't, will you?" Elladan asked.

Lindir looked at the ground evasively.

"Oh no," gasped Elrohir, "We're so sorry, Lindir. We didn't realize that your father would punish you."

Legolas was staring at the twins, "Why don't you just tell Faervel that you did it? Then he won't be able to blame Lindir."

The twins looked him as if he had just suggested that the sky was green. "Because then _we _would be in trouble."

Legolas stared at them in disbelief, but Elladan and Elrohir were saved a lecture from the Prince by King Thranduil calling for silence.

Standing slightly elevated on the steps in front of the entrance, Thranduil began his speech, "We are most honored to have been invited to the festival you have offered to host, Lord Elrond, and, in thanks, we have brought you ten barrels of our finest Dorwinion wine."

Ten warriors of Greenwood brought forward the medium sized barrels and Thranduil continued on with his speech. The twins didn't seem to be listening to him any longer, however, and were looking in the completely opposite direction.

"What's wrong with them?' asked one twin.

Legolas and Lindir looked around curiously. "Who?" asked Legolas.

Elladan pointed to a group of elves, at the back of the crowd, who were all incredibly pale, with one even looking as though he was on the verge of fainting. All in the group were staring in horror at the barrels that Thranduil had just bestowed upon Lord Elrond.

"That's Doronor, Lalvon, and Toron, they serve in my father's halls, but I don't know why they look so fearful," answered Legolas.

"Then let's go find out," decided Elrohir.

"But my father's speech – " Legolas began to protest, but a twin grabbed his arm and pulled him along after Lindir and the other twin.

In a moment they stood before the servants, who seemed to be too horrified to notice them.

Legolas yanked his arm out of the twins grasp, "Doronor, Lalvon, Toron, what is wrong?"

They looked down and one let out a gasp while the one, who looked as though he was seconds from being unconscious, whimpered. The last one began trembling at the sight of Legolas, but answered, "M-my prince, w-we may have made a mistake."

~.-Flashback-.~

Doronor stood with Lalvon and Toron; awaiting their instructions for the day from Galion. As servants to the king, this could consist of anything from waiting on the king's table to cleaning the palace, but, as it turned out, their instructions would be slightly different today.

Galion was busy chatting to the pretty elven maid on his arm when he arrived, so busy indeed, that Doronor had to clear his throat to catch the butler's attention.

"What? Oh, good day Doronor, the king wants ten of the small barrels of red-," suddenly Galion was distracted by whatever the elven maid was saying, "- enchanted water? Really? That must have been-,"

Doronor cleared his throat once more.

"What now, Doronor? I told you: the king wants ten barrels for tomorrow. Bring them here as soon as possible."

Doronor looked bewildered, "But sir, why would the king want-,"

"How am I supposed know? Get to it!"

"But, sir," Doronor began, feeling faintly annoyed.

"What now? We don't have all day!"

"Sir, I don't know-,"

"Then get Lalvon and Toron to help you!"

Lalvon and Toron, who had been looking fairly amused at the exchange between Galion and Doronor up till now, looked horrified.

"But, sir, we-," Lalvon began to protest

"Ai! What is _wrong _with you three today!? Ten barrels, now!" and with that, Galion took his fair lady's arm and escorted her away, leaving three very confused, and more than a little annoyed servants in his wake.

"Ten barrels of _red enchanted water_?" Toron sputtered, "The king can't possibly want that!"

Doronor, who looked fairly moody, grumbled, "Well, who are we to go against the king's wishes? We had better get started now, transporting ten barrels to the river and back is going to take an eternity, and then we have to find out how to change the color."

In the end, it was with great difficulty that the three servants managed to get the ten barrels of enchanted water, and, with a little help of the one of the kitchen staff, they dyed the water a deep, rich red.

Only to find out now that it was red Dorwinion wine that the king had wanted.

~.-End Flashback-.~

"So you mean to tell me that my father has given lord Elrond ten barrels of enchanted water from the enchanted river?" Legolas sputtered.

"Yes, my prince," Lalvon admitted mournfully.

"Do you know what will happen if they drink that!" Legolas exclaimed in dismay, "They will fall asleep and lose part of their memory!"

The three servants looked at the ground, ashamed.

Elladan and Elrohir, however, were looking at the barrels with a look of curiosity on their faces and an identical mischievous twinkle in their eyes.

"So, this water will make the drinker fall asleep _and_ lose their memory?" Elrohir asked curiously.

"Actually, you only have to come in contact with it, but that's really not the point. We have to tell my father about this immediately," Legolas decided.

Elladan and Elrohir exchanged a quick glance before Elrohir said most sweetly, "But then dear Doronor, Lalvon, and Toron here will be in _so_ much trouble. Surely you don't want them to lose their jobs?"

Legolas now had a look of indecision on his face, "But the barrels-,"

"How about we help you take care of the barrels and your servants can fix their mistake without anyone getting in trouble?" Elladan suggested.

Legolas looked at them suspiciously, "How? And why do you want to help?"

"It's quite simple, Doronor, Lalvon, and Toron will go back and get the real barrels of Dorwinion wine, while we, because we are such good friends, will help you get rid of the barrels of enchanted water."

Suddenly Lindir spoke up, "Since when did you ever want to genuinely help anyone?"

"Lindir!" Elrohir exclaimed, "You wound us! Besides we will not be the only ones assisting Prince Legolas; you're going to help too."

"What?! Why?!" Lindir questioned, bewildered.

"Because, due to our slight… mishap with Faervel's bow, you are going to need a defense to keep your father from banning you from the festival or giving you some sort of other punishment. Helping Lord Elrond's sons and Prince Legolas should be a good enough excuse, don't you think?"

Lindir looked at Elrohir suspiciously, knowing the twins were up to something, but nodded. After all, he really did not want to be stuck inside while the rest of the elves celebrated.

So, it wasn't much later that Doronor, Lalvon, and Toron were heading back to Greenwood armed with a note from Legolas that ordered for ten barrels of Dorwinion wine to be sent back to Rivendell with the servants immediately. If all went well, they should be back sometime in the five days before the festival started. In the meantime, Legolas, the twins, and Lindir had to get rid of the barrels of enchanted water, but there was a slight problem; when the elflings returned to the courtyard, the barrels were gone.

~.-.~

**Imladris: the Sindarin (an elvish language) name for Rivendell**

**Greenwood (or Greenwood the Great): the forest that will later become known as Mirkwood, but, as this doesn't happen until around 1050 in the Third Age (and this story takes place long before then), it will be called Greenwood.**

**Ellon: Sindarin word for male elf**

**Ada/Adar: Elvish word for Dad/Father**

**Eru (also known as Illuvatar): pretty much the equivalent of God in Middle-Earth**

**Dorwinion: Dorwinion is an area in Middle-Earth and the name literally means "Land of wines." It is known for its high quality wine, and is mentioned in **_**the Hobbit**_**.**

**The Enchanted River: This is an actual river in Middle-Earth. In **_**the Hobbit**_**, Bombur accidentally falls into this river and, when he wakes up several days later, can't remember the past few months.**

**All reviews are appreciated, and any constructive criticism is welcome. :D**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: No, I do not own Lord of the Rings or any of Tolkien's other works.**

Chapter 2

The First Day

"Ah," Legolas stated vaguely, staring at the place where the barrels had once been placed on the flagstones, "Now what do we do?"

"Find them, obviously. Before they are wast- I mean, drank," Elrohir amended whatever he was going to say quickly.

"And where exactly do you suggest looking?" Lindir asked cynically, raising an eyebrow.

Elrohir looked faintly affronted, "Not _look_, dear Lindir, ask. Why bother wasting all that time looking aimlessly when we could just ask where they are?"

Legolas raised his eyebrows, "You're just going to ask your father where the Dorwinion wine is?"

"Yes, that is exactly what I intend to do," Elrohir answered before marching towards the entrance of the Last Homely House.

"Erm, brother, I'm not so sure that is a good idea…," Elladan began, but Elrohir had already swept through the doors.

The three elves remaining in the courtyard stared at each other for a moment before rushing after him. They were just in time to hear Elrohir ask, "Adar, where is the Dorwinion wine?"

Elrond simply stared at his son for a time before saying, "Elrohir, you are not old enough to be drinking wine, as I have told you many a time before. Now, do not continue pestering me with this matter or a will make sure that you do not taste a single sip of wine before you are in your three thousandth year."

Once done chastening his son, Elrond swept off, leaving a rather shocked looking Elrohir in his wake.

"Wait… I… I didn't want to drink it!" Elrohir exclaimed, but Elrond was already out of hearing.

Elrohir slowly turned around to face the other elflings, rather shamefaced, and admitted, "That may not have been one of my best ideas."

Elladan snorted. "You think? Now what do we do?"

There was a slight pause before Legolas made a suggestion: "Look aimlessly?"

"Does anyone else have a better idea?" Lindir inquired.

There was another pause before they all shook their heads.

"Then look aimlessly it is," Elrohir sighed, "Let's go this way."

He walked off in a randomly chosen direction and the others followed, but it was only moments before Elrohir stopped again, "Shh, listen!"

The other elflings paused, listening hard. There were footsteps coming towards them, down the hall perpendicular to theirs and whoever it was, they were carrying something heavy.

"It has to be the wine!" exclaimed Legolas, delighted at the coincidence and their luck.

Elrohir nodded before gesturing to Elladan to come help him. The twin went over to where Elrohir was standing, by a hanging tapestry, and knelt down; making a mesh with his hands. Elrohir stepped onto Elladan's hands and Elladan stood up so that Elrohir could remove the rod that held the tapestry from the hooks on the wall.

Lindir and Legolas watched blankly, not having the slightest idea of what the twins were doing, as Elrohir unhooked the tapestry from the rod and handed the cloth to Elladan while he kept the wooden rod. The twins then went to stand around the corner; planning to ambush the approaching wine carrier.

"What are-," Legolas began, but the twins shot the prince glares that silenced him effectively.

The elf's footsteps became louder as he approached his impending doom, and, as soon as the footsteps were right at the corner, Elrohir shoved the rod in front of the elf's legs; causing him to trip.

"Wha-argggh!" the elf let out a shout as he crashed onto the floor and the barrel of wine in his arms went flying.

Immediately, Elladan threw the tapestry over the elf's head, and Elrohir ran to grab the barrel. Within seconds, all four elflings were running away from the victim, but it wasn't long before the elf managed to disentangle himself from the tapestry and give chase.

"Stop Immediately! Who are you? Get back here!" the elf shouted behind them.

Legolas whimpered, "Oh, we are going to be in so much trouble!"

"Be quiet and help me carry this; it's heavy!" Elrohir commanded.

The group of elflings flew around a corner, but their pursuer was not far behind.

"Quick! In here!" Elladan flung open a door that led to an unused storage room.

The elflings fled inside the room, but, as soon as Elladan quietly closed the door, and the sound of their running footsteps disappeared, the elf on the other side of the door slowed.

"Where are you? I know you're here." The elf growled.

Lindir whimpered, his eyes wide with horror, and Legolas was muttering, "What are we going to do?" over and over. There was the sound of a door being flung open and all the elflings jumped.

"So not in here, are you? I'll find you eventually" The elf outside threatened menacingly and a door closer to theirs was flung open with a bang.

Elrohir gulped before whispering, "Okay, here is what we are going to do, when the elf gets to our door we're going to open it and hopefully knock him over before we run away. Got it?"

"Run? With that thing?" Elladan gestured to the barrel at Elrohir's feet, "It's too heavy."

Elrohir stared at it for a moment before saying slowly, "We're just going to have to leave it behind and then come back for it later, once we've escaped."

Elladan nodded before moving the barrel into a corner of the room. Then the elflings stood by the door and Elrohir grabbed the handle; getting ready to fling it open. They waited with bated breath until the elf was on the other side, just inches away from them, and then Elladan gave the signal.

Immediately, Elrohir flung the door open and all four elflings simultaneously pushed against the wood with all their might. The door crashed into the elf on the other side with alarming speed, and he tumbled onto the floor; uttering surprised shout. The elflings sprinted out of the room and down the hallway, not sparing a glance at the elf lying prone on the floor. Probably a good thing as, when the elf looked up, a bruise was beginning to form on his forehead, and when he saw the edge of Lindir's tunic flick around a corner, the look on his face was quite murderous. Within seconds, the elf was back on his feet and sprinting after the troublesome elflings, leaving a lone barrel of red enchanted water behind.

Unfortunately, the barrel wasn't going to be alone for long.

Glorfindel peered around the corner, wondering what all the noise down this hallway could be about. He was just in time to see an elf sprint around the corner opposite him, shouting something about having a knife and knowing how to use it. How strange. Perhaps it was a bizarre new fad – Glorfindel could never keep up with them – to inform others of your ability to handle weapons. Rather absurd, as usually when one had a weapon, they knew how to use it, or what was the point of having it in the first place?

Still contemplating youngsters and their peculiar ways, Glorfindel moved to close the door that the other elf had left ajar. As he was doing so, something in the room caught his eye. Could it be? Glorfindel entered the room. Yes, it was!

Someone had just left a barrel of Greenwood wine lying here, looking rather out of place in the otherwise empty room. Well, it would be such a waste to just leave it here, and, with that thought, Glorfindel picked up the barrel and left, intending to share his good fortune with Erestor.

It was half an hour later when four, slightly disheveled elflings returned to the room which they had previously fled. They were all slightly out of breath and had twigs and leaves tangled in their hair; their flight having taken them outside. Coming to the door of the empty storage room, Elladan took hold of the handle and flung it open.

…Only to find that their red enchanted water, which they had worked so hard to obtain, was gone.

Elladan froze in horror and sputtered, "B-but it was right there! Where is it?"

"It was this room, right?" Elrohir was frantic.

Following this statement came the desperate search through the rest of the rooms that lined the corridor.

Crash!

"Not this one."

Bang!

"It's not in here either!"

Thud!

"Where is it!?"

"What are you doing?"

The four elflings spun around to see Lord Elrond.

Elrohir's reaction was automatic, "Nothing."

Elrond raised an eyebrow. Whenever his son used that tone, it was a sure sign that he was up to something. Probably best to get them doing something productive.

"How about you find my advisors and inform them that I will arrive soon to go over the reports with them. They should be in their studies."

A chorus of "Yes, Ada's" and "Of course, Lord Elrond's" met his ears. Satisfied, Elrond turned and left.

The four elflings were left in the hallway staring at each other in despair.

"Well, let's go tell them about the reports, and then we can go back to searching for the barrel," Legolas sighed.

"Glorfindel's study is nearest," Elladan provided, and the elflings walked down multiple hallways until they reached a wooden door.

Knocking, Elladan waited impatiently for Glorfindel to answer. However, after a long pause, Elladan tried again, this time asking, "Glorfindel? Are you in there?"

When there was still no answer, Elladan turned to Elrohir with a frown on his face, "Ada said he'd be in here, didn't he?"

Elrohir nodded, "Maybe something's wrong."

Elrohir tried knocking on the door louder, but there was still no answer.

"Maybe we should check inside," Elladan wondered out loud.

Elrohir grabbed the handle and the door creaked open to reveal a horrifying sight. Glorfindel and Erestor were sprawled in two arm chairs, red stains on their robes and crystal shards at their feet.

Elrohir let out a wail of dismay and all four elflings rushed to two elves sides.

"Glorfindel! Erestor!" Elladan called, but the elves remained limp and unresponsive.

If the elflings hadn't been able to hear Glorfindel's and Erestor's slow, steady breathing, they would have thought that the elves were dead, but they seemed to only be sleeping.

Lindir tried shaking Glorfindel to wake him up, but the only result of this came when the Balrog-slayer let out a loud snore.

"What's wrong with them?!" Legolas shrieked, "And what's on their robes?"

Elladan paused and lightly touched the stain on Erestor's robe, "I think it is wine."

"Have they been poisoned?" Lindir asked, horrified.

"No," the three elflings turned to face Elrohir, who was holding a pitcher filled with a deep, rich red liquid, "This isn't wine; it doesn't smell like wine… I think we've found the enchanted water."

The elflings all stared at each other in horror, but, just then, footsteps could be heard approaching the study; causing the elflings to jump. Elrohir cursed softly as he splashed a bit of the red enchanted water on his tunic.

"It must be Ada," Elladan hissed, "What are we going to do?"

Legolas was thinking fast, "We have to get rid of the water and we can't move Glorfindel or Erestor so we're just going to have to leave them here, but they shouldn't remember anything when they wake up."

"Ada's too close; he'll see us moving the wine," Elrohir contradicted.

It was true, Elrond's footsteps were much closer now.

Suddenly, Lindir had an idea, "How about Legolas and I distract Lord Elrond and you and Elladan move the wine?"

"That should work," Elladan agreed.

Legolas nodded and grabbed Lindir's arm; leading him towards the door. They met up with the elf lord just around the corner.

"Lord Elrond!" Legolas exclaimed, trying hard not to look guilty or like he was up to something.

"Prince Legolas, Lindir," Elrond greeted back, before trying to move past them.

Lindir immediately jumped in front of him, "Wait, we wanted to ask you something!" Lindir paused; thinking hard, what would distract Elrond and keep him from moving? Something odd or shocking? Something awkward? Lindir quickly came to a decision, and, not entirely sure of the wisdom of it, asked, "Lord Elrond, how are elflings made?"

It had the desired effect; Elrond froze and stared down at Lindir his mouth open slightly in shock.

Recovering somewhat, he let out a loud, and fairly unintelligent, "What?"

"Well, you see," Lindir began, now beginning to seriously doubt the astuteness in this, "We know a little about how it's done; something about when two elves love each other greatly, but we don't really know exactly, and seeing as you're so old – I mean smart! – We thought you'd know."

Beside him, Legolas made an odd choking noise and the expression on his face suggested that he didn't know whether to laugh or be horrified.

Now Elrond was beginning to look vaguely uncomfortable, "Er, how about you ask your father?"

"But he's training some of the novice warriors," Lindir protested, wondering how much longer he had to keep this up.

"Well, I'm sure you could ask him later," Elrond suggested, beginning to sound rather desperate.

"But what if a elleth shows up with a elfling, between now and then, and says that it's mine?" questioned Lindir putting on his best pleading face, "Or what if a stork flies down and gives me one all wrapped up in cloth? Then what do I do? I don't want to be a parent! You have to tell me, Lord Elrond, before I accidently make one!"

Now lord Elrond was definitely panicking, "Ai! Go ask someone else! Glorfindel or Erestor, even King Thranduil! Anyone! Just don't ask me!"

And with that, Elrond turned and fled quickly down the hall towards Glorfindel's study.

"Do you think that was long enough?" Lindir wondered out loud as soon as he had gone.

From behind them came a rather choked "Yes," causing Legolas and Lindir to spin around. Just around the corner nearby were the twins and one barrel, as well as a pitcher, of red enchanted water. Both twins were sitting on the floor where they had collapsed from silent laughter.

"I can't believe you asked him how elflings were made," gasped Elladan, with tears streaming down his face. "Did you see Ada's expression?!"

He and Elrohir both dissolved back into hysterical laughter that was soon cut off by a shout coming from the direction of Glorfindel's study.

The four elflings stared at each other wide-eyed; all mirth now gone.

"Maybe we should leave here," suggested Legolas nervously.

The other three quickly nodded and Elladan picked up barrel while Elrohir grabbed the pitcher. Within minutes, they were in a secluded part of the Last Homely House.

Panting, Elladan put down the heavy barrel, "What are we going to do with it?" He asked, gesturing to the barrel.

"We're going to have to hide it somewhere till we figure out how to get rid of it," decided Legolas after giving it a moment of thought.

"Where?" Lindir wondered.

There was a slight pause before Elrohir suggested, "We could hide it the caves. They're close by, but no one is likely to venture there now that the festival is about to begin."

When no one could come up with a better suggestion, it was agreed upon. They poured the pitcher of water back into the barrel, and made a quick plan on how to smuggle the barrel outside. It was with great difficulty that the elflings managed to sneak the barrel out of the Last Homely House without being seen, but, in the end, they made it to a clearing that was backed by a tall cliff. The face of the cliff was marred by a small, black opening that led into a fairly large cavern with multiple tunnels coming off it. The twins and Lindir made their way through the dark passages, with Legolas following them, until they came to a hidden cave that broke off from one of the passageways.

Setting the barrel down on the stone floor, Elladan surveyed what could be seen of the cavern through the shadows, "This should do, don't you think?"

Elrohir and Lindir nodded approvingly while Legolas just shuddered. He did not like caves. Well, his father's halls were sort of caves, but they were large and airy whereas this was small, enclosed, and not at all pleasant.

"Our parents will probably be looking for us. Perhaps we should go back?" Legolas suggested, his voice a slightly higher pitch than normal.

The twins looked amused, but Lindir started leading Legolas back towards the entrance before they could say anything. They hastily followed; not wanting to be left behind.

When they got back to the city, they found the place in chaos. Elves were running here and there without any regard to order and propriety as they rushed to relay whatever information they knew to other elves. When one elf, whom Elladan recognized to be one of his father's advisors, caught sight of them, he let out a cry of relief, "My lords, Prince Legolas… Lindir isn't it? Lord Elrond has been wondering where you have been. There has been a terrible accident and our leader believes that you may have some information on the subject."

"What accident?" Elrohir asked, trying desperately not to look guilty.

"The Lords Erestor and Glorfindel have been poisoned!" the advisor exclaimed, the look on his face suggesting that this was the worst thing to have happened since the fall of Gondolin.

Elladan put on his best horrified face, "Then we shall go immediately!"

The four elflings sprinted out of sight before slowing to a stop.

"What are we going to do?" Legolas was on the verge of panicking.

"Lie," Elrohir decided.

"Lie! To _Lord Elrond_!?" Lindir looked appalled.

"Just a small lie," Elrohir defended, "We'll just say that when we got to Glorfindel's study, to relay Ada's message, both Erestor and Glorfindel were fine. When Erestor and Glorfindel wake up, they will have lost part of their memory anyways, so it will hardly matter that they can't remember us."

Lindir still did not look convinced and Legolas was staring at Elrohir disbelievingly, "This can't possibly work."

"Do you have a better idea?" Elladan snapped.

Lindir and Legolas quickly shook their heads, so, it was only minutes later that they were nervously standing outside the healing ward's doors; awaiting Lord Elrond.

Elladan gulped as the doors were flung open and Elrond stalked out, looking rather anxious.

"Ah, there you are!" He exclaimed, catching sight of the elflings, "I must ask you something: When you went to Glorfindel's study, did you see anything or anyone odd?"

It was Elladan who answered, keeping his face solemn, "No, Ada, when we got to Glorfindel's study, both Glorfindel and Erestor looked fine."

"And did you see anyone else there? Was there some wine out?"

Elladan shook his head, "I don't think there was anyone else there, and I cannot remember if there was wine or not; we were only there briefly."

Elrond ran a hand through his hair and began pacing, "It is very strange, they seem to have been drinking wine, as there are fresh stains on their robes and there were wine glass shards at their feet when I found them, but the wine itself could not be found. And I'm not even sure it was wine they were drinking, as, though it appears to be wine on their robes, it does not smell like wine. To top it all off, whatever they were poisoned with, seems to have only put them into a sleep from which I cannot wake them. It makes no sense! What is the point of-,"

Suddenly, Elrond broke off staring at Elrohir, or, more specifically, Elrohir's tunic, "Elrohir," he began, his voice cold, "What is that on your tunic?"

Elrohir looked down at himself and his eyes widened in horror as he saw the red stain from where he had spilt enchanted water on himself in Glorfindel's study; he had entirely forgotten about it.

"Er, Adar, I can explain," he stuttered.

Elrond cut him off, looking thoroughly aggravated, "What have I told you about drinking wine!? I told you, just earlier today, that you are too young! Yet here I find that you have completely disregarded my orders!"

Elrond swirled away from Elrohir, who bit his lip nervously, "Adar, I didn't mean to…," Elrohir trailed off, not sure what to say, or how to get out of this situation.

Elrond sighed and turned back towards him, his face blank, "I want you in my study, after dinner. Is that understood?"

Elrohir nodded and Elrond continued, "You are dismissed, you may go to supper. Oh, and Prince Legolas," Legolas gulped, fearing lord Elrond's wrath, "Your father is looking for you. I believe he is in the Hall of Fire."

Legolas nodded, looking relieved, and the four elflings turned and left.

Once out of hearing, Elrohir let out a moan of despair, "What am I going to do? Of all the things I could have spilled the enchanted water on, it had to be myself!"

Elladan patted his shoulder consolingly, "At least he didn't find out that it was us who took the 'wine' from Glorfindel's study."

Lindir sighed, "He hasn't found out yet, but it's probably only a matter of time before he makes the connection between Elrohir having 'wine' on his tunic and the missing 'wine' from Glorfindel's study."

"You're _so _optimistic," Elladan said sarcastically before turning towards Elrohir, "Though you should probably change you tunic, brother, before Ada find's out that, like the stains on Erestor's and Glorfindel's robes, the stain on your tunic doesn't smell like wine either."

So the elflings made a detour to Elrohir's room so that he could change his tunic and hide his other stained one. They then made their way to their places at the large dining table in the Hall of Fire. Elladan, Elrohir, and Legolas were near the head of the table whereas Lindir was a farther ways down, sitting next to his father.

As soon as Legolas sat down, his father leaned over and immediately began questioning him on how his day had been. The twins listened, amused, as Legolas tried to satisfy his father with his answers without telling him what exactly he had been up to.

When King Thranduil was certain that Legolas was so far having a good time, he abruptly changed the subject, "So, have you found someone to go with yet?"

"Go to what?" asked Legolas blankly.

"You have not yet heard? The Lady Celebrian announced that there is to be a dancing at the festival for which every young person must have a partner."

King Thranduil chuckled at the look of horror that appeared on Legolas's face as he announced this. Nearby, Elladan and Elrohir were of the same mind, and their faces too were contorted in revulsion, but suddenly, Elrohir's repulsed look turned to one of elation; causing Elladan to stare at him in disbelief.

"What's wrong with you?" Elladan asked incredulously, "He just said that we have to dance with _girls_."

From the way Elladan said this, you would have thought that females were the epitome of evil and repugnance.

"I know that, but if Ada's punishment for me is to not go to the festival, then I won't have to dance!" Elrohir explained gleefully.

"You will also miss out on the food," Elladan pointed out.

Elrohir's face sank as he fell into inner turmoil over the debate of whether the food at the festival would be worth the horror of dancing with a girl.

~.-.~

**Balrog: A demon of shadow and flame, and Glorfindel is well known for having slain one.**

**The Fall of Gondolin: Gondolin was an elven city and was destroyed when Morgoth's armies attacked it.**

**Ada/Adar: the elvish words for Dad or Father.**

**Elleth: elvish word for a female elf.**

**All reviews are appreciated. :D**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Lord of the Rings, or any of Tolkien's other works. **

**Thank you KatrineLaclyon for reviewing, LotR-HP-PJ for reviewing and favoriting, Glorelwen for favoriting, ****EzmeetheHedgehog for favoriting and following, and everLI7**** for following. Your support for this story is greatly appreciated! :D **

Chapter 3

The First Day - The Second Day

~.- Glorfindels' POV -.~

Glorfindel felt awareness slowly creeping towards him. When he opened his eyes, a beamed ceiling lit by firelight appeared in his vision. Where was he? He had no recollection of how he'd gotten to this place. The sudden crash of porcelain shattering on stone floor startled him, and he sat up, looking about wildly. Listening carefully, he could hear shouts coming from a room nearby.

"No! You can't make me!" shouted a hysterical voice, "I will escape! You can't stop me! NO! Get back! You can't make me!"

There was an earsplitting screech and the sound of more porcelain shattering, but this didn't worry him so much as the fact that he knew this voice. It was Erestor, but what could possibly make the normally calm and collected advisor lose control like that?

"I must get back to my study! I haven't written several important reports! This could mean the end of my career! Let me go!"

Ah, well, that explained it. Keeping Erestor from his work was like trying to… well, there really was no equivalent, but it was an _extremely _bad idea.

Assessing more of his surroundings, Glorfindel realized that he appeared to be in the healing ward. How odd. Had there been a battle recently? Had he been fighting a Nazgul or some other formidable creature and been injured in the process?

Glorfindel frowned; trying to remember what he had been doing last. Suddenly, the Balrog-slayer went pale and tensed. His fists clenched the bed sheets tightly, his knuckles going white, as a look of horror came across his face.

The last thing Glorfindel could remember was helping Maenor train some of the new warriors. Surely he hadn't been knocked unconscious by one of the young _elflings_? Glorfindel buried his head in his hands; the shame would be too much to bear if he had.

Nearby, there was the sound of glass shattering and a shout of, "Freeeddddooommm!" followed by a loud crunching noise as bushes were flattened by something rather large.

~.- Back in the Dining Hall-.~

When dinner concluded, much to Elrohir's displeasure, as it meant his demise at Lord Elrond's hand, the elves moved from their seats and began to converse in different areas around the hall. In the meantime, Lord Elrond made a gesture for Elrohir to follow him out of the Hall of Fire. Elladan, Legolas, and Lindir convened and came to a quick decision to follow at a distance; wanting to immediately know what Elrohir's fate would be. They had waited for what seemed like the longest time just around the corner from Elrond's study, where Elrohir had been taken to be sentenced, when an elf who worked in the healing ward swept past them and to the door of Elrond's study.

Knocking, the elf announced, "Lord Elrond, I bring news from the healing ward."

The door immediately opened and Elrond appeared, "Have Erestor's and Glorfindel's condition changed?"

"They have awoken my lord, but there has been some slight difficulties; they are both… rather disoriented."

Lord Elrond simply nodded before sweeping off with the elf towards the healing ward. Legolas, Elladan, and Lindir pressed themselves against the wall as the two elves passed them, but the elves paid them no attention.

As soon as the elves' footsteps faded away, the three elflings sprinted towards Elrond's study just as Elrohir came out of it and rushed towards them.

After a near collision, Elrohir let out a wail of dismay, "You won't believe what Ada wants me to do, Elladan!"

"What? What is it?" Elladan asked, looking alarmed at the distressed expression on his twin's face.

"When the visitors from Lothlorien arrive, I have to escort Haldir around! You know who I speak of don't you!? That little elfling we briefly met on our visit to see Daerada and Daernana?"

Elladan began to howl with laughter, much to Legolas's and Lindir's bemusement and Elrohir's annoyance.

"Of course I remember him!" Elladan gasped through his tears of laughter, "How could I forget? He was completely insane!"

"But I have to escort him around," growled Elrohir, "So that means that you will also be forced to spend time with him."

Elladan's laughter abruptly came to a stop, "Ah," he stated, eyes wide.

"Who is Haldir?" Legolas asked in confusion, and Lindir was thinking the same thing.

"You'll see," stated Elrohir rather glumly.

~.-The Next Afternoon-.~

Elladan, Elrohir, Legolas, and Lindir stood out in the courtyard beside Lord Elrond, Lady Celebrian, and King Thranduil. Lindir looked vaguely uncomfortable with this position, but Elrohir had insisted that if he, Elladan, and Legolas had to suffer through meeting Haldir, then Lindir had to too. Slowly coming towards them were a group of mostly golden and silver haired elves mounted on horses.

When the group reached them, a sliver haired ellon gracefully dismounted and came forward to embrace Celebrian, "It is good to see you again, daughter."

"Indeed," agreed an elleth with long golden hair, "The trees of Lothlorien have missed your presence."

Lord Elrond stepped forward, "Greetings, Lord Celeborn and Lady Galadriel."

While the adults continued to exchange pleasantries, Elrohir let out a mournful sigh, "There he is."

The elflings followed his gaze to where a fair-haired elfling was sitting atop a horse, gazing up at the lightly clouded sky, and seeming completely oblivious to the stable hand who was asking to take the elfling's horse to the stables.

"Well, might as well get started," Elrohir strode towards the elfling.

When he reached him he greeted the elfling loudly, "Good day, Haldir."

Haldir continued to stare up at the clouds.

"Er, Haldir?" Elrohir tried to catch the elfling's attention.

Abruptly, Haldir answered, in a dreamy, vacant tone while still looking at the sky, "The clouds are beautiful."

Legolas stared at the elfling. What sort of elf, when surrounded by the splendor of Rivendell, commented on the beauty of the clouds?

Haldir continued on despite the looks he was getting from the twins, Lindir, Legolas, and the stable hand, "That one looks like the Lady Galadriel."

Despite themselves, the other elflings and the stable hand all looked up at the sky, only to catch themselves and glance around at each other self-consciously.

"Erm, that's nice, Haldir. Do you mind dismounting?" Elrohir asked, "This stable hand needs to take your horse and your bags will be taken to your room."

Haldir dismounted rather gracefully, considering that he still did not take his gaze off the sky. The stable hand gave Elrohir a look of thanks and quickly led the horse away; relieved to be leaving the strange elfling behind.

Two elves suddenly appeared out of the crowd in the courtyard and came to stand on either side of Haldir.

"Ah, I see you have met the young Lords of Rivendell, Haldir," commented one, upon seeing the company Haldir was keeping.

"Yes," agreed Haldir dreamily, "Ellden and Ellray."

Everyone simply stared at Haldir for a moment. Then Lindir slapped a hand over his mouth to muffle his laughter and Legolas tried and failed to hide his amusement. The two elves standing beside Haldir cast Elladan and Elrohir apologetic glances before trying to correct Haldir, "No, brother, these are the Lords Elladan and Elrohir."

Haldir just gazed at them blankly and it was impossible to tell if their message had gotten through.

When Haldir did not answer, Elladan decided to break the silence, "It is good to see you again, Rumil and Orophin," he addressed the two elves, "My father has asked us to accompany Haldir during his stay in Rivendell."

Orophin looked surprised, but pleased, "It is appreciated. It is good to know that Haldir will not be alone while we go about our duties. Speaking of duties, I'm afraid that we must take our leave."

Orophin and Rumil disappeared back into the crowd leaving the four elflings with Haldir, who was gazing off dreamily into the distance.

"Do you think we can continue to search for the barrels with him around?" Legolas whispered to Elrohir, "Or will he tell someone?"

Elrohir shook his head, "I really doubt that Haldir will care about what we are up to, even if he does notice. We just have to keep him with us while we go about Rivendell or my father will sentence me to extra lessons on decorum with Erestor."

Personally, Legolas thought Elrohir could use some lessons on decorum, but he just nodded. The elflings moved away from the crowd of elves, and into the Last Homely House, so they could speak without the fear of being overheard.

"So, where are we going to search next?" Lindir asked.

"Does anybody remember seeing Greenwood barrels anywhere?" Elrohir questioned.

"Greenwood barrels?" came Haldir's dreamy voice from behind them, "Like those?"

The other four elflings turned and looked towards where Haldir was pointing at two servants carrying two barrels that were most definitely from Greenwood.

"Yes! Exactly like that, Haldir! Thank you," Elladan exclaimed, before rushing towards the two servants.

The other elflings followed, Elrohir pulling Haldir along.

"Excuse me," Elladan began, cutting the servants off, "Where would you be taking those?"

The servants looked slightly surprised at the intrusion, but one answered, "Lord Elrond requested they be brought to the sitting room, on the ground floor. I believe they are there for when a few of the lords and ladies of Rivendell and the guests arrive, presumably to discuss the visitors' trip from Lothlorien."

"May we help?" asked Elrohir, putting on his best innocent face.

The servants didn't buy it, "I believe we can manage, my Lords. Now, if you'll excuse us, we really do need to deliver these."

The servants swept past them, leaving four disappointed, and one absentminded, elflings behind.

"Now what do we do?" wondered Legolas out loud, "I don't want to take the barrels away from them by force, as we know how well that worked out last time, but those barrels can't be allowed to get to the sitting room either, then there will just be more people between us and the barrels."

"Not necessarily," began Elrohir slowly, "If we can create a big enough distraction, then some of us can slip into the sitting room and grab the barrels."

"What do you mean by distraction?" questioned Lindir suspiciously.

"Oh, not much," Elrohir answered innocently, "Just something big enough to get everyone out of the sitting room."

~.-Half an Hour Later -.~

The five elflings stood outside the doors that led from the sitting room onto the veranda. They were not alone however, amongst them were a number of sacks which were all squirming and emitting chattering or hissing noises. The elflings next to them all looked tired and were covered in scratches and dirt. Their hair was in disarray and twigs, burrs, and leaves were caught in their clothes.

Elladan carefully opened the wooden door a crack and peered into the sitting room. Servants were rushing about, fluffing pillows and dusting. One started to prepare to open the barrels and pour the 'wine' into the awaiting pitchers.

Elladan looked around at the other elflings, "Quick! They're going to start pouring the enchanted water!"

Immediately, the elflings began their task. Elrohir grabbed one sack, which started to thrash violently, but he quickly soothed whatever was inside. Kneeling down, he placed the sack at the slightly open door and carefully opened it. A snake slithered out and into the sitting room, but the servants didn't take notice of it yet.

Elrohir gestured for the next sack and began to release a squirrel, but, seeing an elf enter the sitting room, he froze.

"What? What is it?" Lindir asked franticly.

"We're too late!" Elrohir looked horrified, "Ada's here and he has brought the guests!"

It was true, Lord Elrond had arrived at the sitting room and behind him were a number of elves, including Lady Celebrian, Lady Galadriel, Lord Celeborn, King Thranduil, Erestor, and Glorfindel, whom had both recovered from drinking the enchanted water.

"What do we do?" asked Legolas franticly, "We can't release the animals into the room, but then they will drink the enchanted water!"

Four elflings stared at each other in horror (Haldir just gazed off into the distance and started humming) as the situation they were in slowly sank in and eventually led to the question: What was worse? Some of the most important people in Middle-Earth seemingly getting poisoned in Rivendell by wine from Greenwood and possibly causing the next kinslaying? Or some of the most important people in Middle-Earth getting attacked by some _mostly_ harmless animals?

The answer was obvious, so, swallowing hard, Elrohir reopened the sack he was holding and released the squirrel into the sitting room, then three rats that were followed by a rabbit, another snake, and finally, a skunk that Haldir had somehow managed to catch without being sprayed.

At first, nobody noticed the animals ambling about the room, and the elflings feared that the servant was going to serve the wine, but just before he did, a Lady from Rivendell, dressed in a deep blue dress with silver embroidery on the bodice, happened to chance across one of the snakes.

She had been showing another lady a ring she had recently bought, when she accidently dropped it. Leaning over to grab it, she realized that there was some sort of brown rope near her feet. Gently prodding it, she was most surprised and horrified when it let out an angry hiss. Finally realizing that it was a snake, she let out a bloodcurdling scream and ran towards the door.

It was only then, as elves began to look about the room, that they saw the animals. The other snake was peering out from under a couch, the squirrel was on the mantelpiece, but, when elves started to scream, it was startled and jumped into Celeborn's lap, prompting a shout from the usually immaculate and unfazed lord. The rats were running all about the room, and, when one happened to venture to close to one of the snakes, it was immediately attacked; causing an elleth to swoon. The rabbit, for the most part, was minding its own business, but, it was only when the elves noticed the black creature with white stripes running down its back, that the room fell into true chaos.

The ellith began running for the door, screaming, while the ellyn tried to keep the animals away from them. This caused one elf to end up with a bite from a rat and another to end up with numerous scratches. When Celeborn finally managed to get the squirrel off of him, with much jumping about to Lady Galadriel's amusement, it went flying, landed on Glorfindel's head, and ended up getting tangled in his golden hair, much to the Balrog-slayer's dismay. Lady Celebrian was trying to calm the elleth who had found the snake, who was on the verge of tears from panicking. Lord Elrond was still in his chair, staring in complete shock at the chaotic scene around him, but he was not to remain that way for long, as the skunk was rapidly getting irritated with the activity going on around it.

Eventually, when Glorfindel, who was stumbling around while trying to get the squirrel out if his hair, ventured slightly too close to the skunk, it finally let out its horribly smelling spray. As one, the whole room let out a cry, which could be heard throughout all of Rivendell, and everyone ran for the door. It was possibly the fastest the elflings, still peeking into the room, had ever seen a room clear. They waited a few moments, hoping that the stench would dissipate somewhat, before Lindir and Haldir went into the sitting room to grab the barrels. Lindir came out choking and coughing and Haldir didn't look quite like his dreamy self, but otherwise they were fine

"Well, that's done," Elrohir stated, sounding relieved as he gathered up the sacks used to contain the animals.

Elladan, Legolas, and Lindir just nodded, still looking shocked at what had just occurred, while Haldir began humming once more. Then they began to hurry towards the cave, Elladan pulling Haldir along, where they had hidden the other barrel of enchanted water. Once the barrels were hidden, the elflings took one look at their filthy, disheveled appearance, and decided that it would be far too suspicious to return to Rivendell looking like that. Thus they took a quick dip in one of the clear pools below a waterfall before they slowly began to make their way back towards Rivendell.

When they finally made it back, exhausted and still slightly damp, the elves of Rivendell were finally acting like elves should for once, as opposed to running around chaotically as they had been on their previous return, though some seemed rather giggly.

As Elrohir looked around however, he began to realize that not all was quite as it should be. He and the other four elflings seemed to have gained an escort of frivolous ellith, thus the reason for all the giggling. It was rather disconcerting to have a large group of female elves following them about, and Elrohir elbowed Elladan; wondering if he had noticed.

"What?" Elladan asked.

"Have you seen what is following us? They're worse than a pack of wargs," Elrohir muttered back.

Elladan looked about, his expression of curiosity slowly turning to one of horror, "What do they want!?"

"They're ellith; who knows? Maybe they want to attack us or maybe they want to flirt with us-." Lindir let out a soft snort, but Elrohir ignored him and continued on, "It's possible that-,"

Legolas cut him off and supplied, "They might want to go to the dance with us."

A horrified look came across Elrohir's face and he said, weakly, "I'd forgotten about that."

"Lucky you," Legolas muttered bitterly, "I doubt my father will be pleased if I don't manage to find a girl to dance with."

"I like dancing," Haldir stated dreamily, probably the first truly coherent thing he had said since his arrival.

After a moment of staring at the strange elfling, Elrohir turned at looked around at the surrounding group of ellith, a slightly hopeful expression appearing on his face, "How much enchanted water do you think they would have to drink to make them pass out for the next ten days; until the festival is over?"

"Elrohir!"

"It was just an idea!"

~.-.~

**Nazgul: Also known as ringwraiths, these are what remain of the nine kings after the rings given to them corrupted them. They are slaves to Sauron and his most formidable servants. **

**Ada/Adar: Dad/Father**

**Ellon: a male elf.**

**Elleth: a female elf.**

**Daerada: Grandpa **

**Daernana: Grandma**

**Kinslaying: what it is called when elves kill other elves, an occurrence that rarely happens in the history of Middle Earth.**

**Ellith: the plural form of elleth, so a group of female elves.**

**Ellyn: the plural form of ellon, so a group of male elves.**

**Wargs: wolf like creatures that serve Sauron and orcs.**

**Review please, I don't care if you only say, "I love/hate/enjoy this story," all reviews are appreciated. :D Also, many thanks to my editor (and sister) CreateImagineWrite, who's been looking over my story for me. If you are into the Merlin fandom, you should check out her stories!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Lord of the Rings or any of Tolkien's other works.**

**Thank you everLI7, sarathestarkidranger, and KatrineLaclyon for reviewing, sweet-angel-sc for favoriting, and Nyla Evergale for reviewing, favoriting, and following. :D**

Chapter 4

The Third Day

The next afternoon, all five elflings were wandering about and looking for the fourth casket of enchanted water. There was just one problem, their escort of ellith from the previous day had conspired to follow them about all today as well, and, if anything, it had grown larger. No matter where the twins, Legolas, Lindir, and Haldir went, they were constantly surrounded by a chattering, giggling crowd.

It was rapidly grating on four of the elflings nerves, but Haldir seemed quite at ease amongst the ellith; completely content to ignore the girly companions and continue gazing about him dreamily; occasionally singing softly. Maybe he did not care about the attention he was getting, or perhaps he was entirely oblivious to it; it was rather hard to tell. The other four elflings were gritting their teeth at this point however, and Elrohir was seriously considering drinking enough of the enchanted water in order to remain unconscious until the festival was over.

Finally, Elrohir had had enough and, swirling to face the group of ellith, he let out a cry of, "Would you stop following us around?! Don't you have something better to do?!"

The ellith just let out a peal of giggles, and some started blushing, but none showed any sign of leaving, much to Elrohir's frustration. He let out an annoyed growl and turned away; running his hand through his hair. It was nearly enough to make some of the ellith swoon.

"Don't encourage them," Lindir hissed warningly.

"Encourage them?! _Encourage them_! Is that what you think I'm trying to do?" Elrohir whispered back furiously, "I'm trying to get rid of them! We're never going to be able to find the other barrels with this pack of wargs following us around!"

"Enough!" murmured Elladan, "This isn't helping. What we have to do is somehow get the ellith to leave us, or at least some of us, alone."

"A diversion," agreed Legolas.

"So, how about some of us distract the ellith, and the rest leave without being seen," Elrohir began planning. "Then the ones who've escaped can search for the barrels in peace."

"What about the ones who are distracting them?" Lindir questioned disapprovingly, "We're just going to leave them at the hands of these ellith?"

"Their sacrifice will undoubtedly be honorable," Elrohir defended, "Besides, what other choice do we have?"

The other elflings (besides Haldir, who was watching the flight of a nearby butterfly) contemplated this before finally nodding, grudgingly, in agreement.

"Great! Now who's is going to remain behind?" Elrohir asked.

The scene suddenly took on a mood that was not unlike the calm before a battle.

"Well, Legolas should stay," Elladan decided, "What sort of elleth will be able to resist the crown prince of Greenwood?"

Legolas seemed about to protest, but suddenly thought better of it, "Fine. On one condition, however," Legolas turned to face Elrohir, "You also remain with me. I think it's only fair as most of this was your idea."

"What!" Elrohir began to protest, looking horrified, "That's hardly fair-,"

Elladan cut him off, "Agreed."

Lindir also nodded, "The wargs- I mean, ellith can have him."

Elrohir stared at them, open mouthed in shock. Before he could recover his voice, Elladan and Lindir gave Legolas sympathetic nods, and raced off, pulling Haldir along with them.

Finally recovering, Elrohir shouted after them, "Traitors! All of you!"

The group of ellith looked on, confused, and not sure whether to chase after the three ellyn that were running away or stay. Legolas decided to help them in their decision; putting on a the charming smile, that usually got him whatever he wanted and had some of the ellith close to drooling, he simply said, "Good afternoon, ladies," and struck a dashing pose.

The looks that he got from the ellith afterwards were enough to convince Legolas that they truly must be wargs. Turning, he grabbed Elrohir's arm, and they raced off; the ellith sprinting after them.

~.-Elladan, Lindir, and Haldir -.~

After abandoning Legolas and Elrohir to their fate, the other three elflings resumed their search for the barrels. For a time, they wandered around the Last Homely House without finding anything, but, by some measure of luck, they happened to overhear a conversation that would change their current circumstance.

Elladan led the way down yet another hallway and Lindir followed with Haldir in tow. Rounding a corner, they entered the servants' living room. Several elves sat around a table in the sitting area, chuckling at one elf was saying.

"-So then, Lord Elrond finally manages to catch the snake, but as he goes to put it outside, the young Lord Elrohir and prince Legolas come running past with what must have been all the female elflings in Imladris following them! So he says to me, looking like he might just sail to Valinor and be done with it all, 'Please go get some of the Dorwinion wine king Thranduil brought-,' Elladan and Lindir froze, causing Haldir to stumble into them, '-and bring it to my study.' Can't say I blame him for trying to drown his sorrows in drink; taking care of those twins must be a nightmare."

Elladan turned and stared at Haldir and Lindir in horror before whispering, "We _have _to go get the wine before Ada drinks it! Who knows what will happen if the Lord of Rivendell is poisoned?!"

Lindir could imagine what would happen if Lord Elrond were to be poisoned, however: absolute chaos, and, if someone were to find out it was the Dorwinion wine from Greenwood that had caused it, well, Lindir shuddered to think of how the elves of Rivendell would react.

Thus Lindir and Elladan headed off towards Elrond's study as fast as they possibly could; dragging Haldir along with them. Unfortunately, it only took a single knock on the study door for the elflings to realize that they were too late.

Elladan quietly pushed open the door and peered inside, only to find that the situation was worse than they could possibly have imagined. Lord Elrond was sprawled on the couch in his study, unconscious and wine glass still in his hand and beside him was Lady Celebrian, also unconscious.

Elladan shoved the door open the rest of the way and ran into the study before freezing in front of the limp forms of his parents. He groaned in despair, "Oh no… Now what are we going to do?!"

Lindir was too panicked to think of anything, and simply stared in horror at the Lord and Lady of Rivendell. Haldir, however, meandered into the study, and, going up to Lord Elrond, gently poked the sleeping form. Unsurprisingly, the elf Lord didn't move or stir on the slightest. Haldir then simple shrugged and said softly, "They're asleep."

Elladan stared at him for a moment before exclaiming, "Well, I can see that!"

"So…. couldn't we just move them, so no one will find them while they're asleep, and take the wine?"

Elladan gazed at Haldir in surprise; apparently he could be sensible sometimes.

"I guess…," Elladan considered before a determined look came across his face and he took charge of the situation, "Right, I'll take Ada's feet and you and Lindir can grab his arms. Lindir?" Elladan looked over to where Lindir was still standing, frozen in horror, "Lindir! Come on! It's not that bad…"

"Not that bad," Lindir repeated quietly before finally registering the words and exclaiming, "Not that bad!? Lord Elrond and Lady Celebrian have been poisoned and you say, 'It's not that bad!' Well, let me tell you something, when they find out about this, which they will, mind you, they'll-,"

"Lindir!" Elladan wailed, cutting off Lindir's rant.

"Fine," Lindir moaned and came over to take one of Elrond's arms, "But there is no way we are going to manage all of this without someone eventually finding out…"

Though whether they were going to be able to find and hide all of the barrels of enchanted water without someone finding out remained unknown, they did manage to drag and shove Elrond's and Celebrian's bodies into the room adjacent to Elrond's study, and hide them, without anyone seeing.

Wiping sweat off their brows, they forced themselves to go back into the study and dispose of any evidence of the enchanted water, despite only wanting to lie down and sleep for the next age, before taking the barrel and slowly carrying it out to the caves. Once done, the elflings collapsed onto the stone ground, gasping for breath. Who knew elves and barrels could be so _heavy_? Their arms were strangely numb and lifeless. Elladan began wishing he had volunteered to distract the ellith instead of searching for the enchanted water…. Speaking of the ellith…

A little ways away, Elrohir and Legolas backed up as close as the dared to the cliff edge, a semi-circle of triumphant and ferocious ellith surrounding them. Legolas gulped, this was not going as planned. Not that they'd had much of a plan on the first place; he and Elrohir had merely come to an unspoken decision to run around aimlessly, with the ellith following them, until Elladan, Lindir, and Haldir returned.

Except now they were trapped between a thirty foot cliff, with a roaring river at the bottom, and at least twenty ellith intent on… Well, Legolas wasn't sure what they were intent on, but he was certain he wouldn't enjoy it. Beside him, Elrohir shuddered and tried to decide whether it would be better to face the ellith or jump off the cliff. It was a difficult decision.

Back in the cave, Elladan suddenly sat up; a worried expression on his face, "Something's not right."

"What?" Lindir asked sleepily; his eyes closed.

It looked as though Haldir had already dozed off.

"Something's wrong with Elrohir…," Elladan answered.

Lindir's brow furrowed slightly, "What could possibly be wrong? They're in Rivendell," Lindir opened his eyes, a frown appearing on his face, "being chased by a pack of ellith."

"Exactly," Elladan pointed out. He then poked Haldir to wake him up, "Come on, we need to go back."

Haldir simply rolled over curled into a tight ball.

Rolling his eyes, Elladan put his mouth right next to Haldir's ear and shouted, as loud as he could, "HALDIR!"

Haldir sprang to his feet, nearly hitting Elladan in the head with his flailing arms, "What!"

"Good, you're awake, we-,"

Elladan was suddenly cut off by an ominous rumbling noise and small chucks of rock falling from the cave ceiling. Once it had stopped, the elflings stared at each other in terror.

"We should get out of here," suggested Lindir in a small voice.

Without any hesitation, the elfings all rushed for the exit.

~.-Elrond's POV-.~

Elrond felt himself slowly awakening; it felt as though he was beginning to wake up from some sort of drugged sleep. What had happened? Strangely enough, no matter how hard he tried he could not remember. One moment he had been asking a servant… something, Elrond could not remember what, and now he was here, wherever here was.

Vaguely, Elrond realized it might be easier to find out where he was if he opened his eyes. However, even when he did open his eyes, he found he could see absolutely nothing but darkness. It was rather disconcerting; had he gone blind? But, no, if he held his hand directly in front of his face he could almost see it by the soft glow emanating from his skin.

Carefully, Elrond began to stand up from his awkward crouched position on the ground, but before he could stand up fully, his head hit something. Reaching up, he realized there was a horizontal wooden pole above him, feeling along it, his hand hit something made of metal. A hook, which was attached to… fabric? Where was he?!

After some more exploring, Elrond found that he seemed to be in some sort of box. It was approximately five hand widths wide, sixteen hand widths long, and, Elrond reached down trying to discover the height only for his hand to collide with something- something alive!

Jerking back in shock, Elrond took a moment to calm himself before tentatively asking, "Who is there?"

To his surprise, a familiar voice answered him, "Elrond?"

"Celebrain!" exclaimed Elrond, "What are you doing here?!"

"What? Where am I? How did I get here?" asked Celebrian, confused.

Suddenly, all of the facts Elrond had discovered in his exploration came together and created a single solution, "You are in a wardrobe," answered Elrond rather matter-of-factly, "As for how we got here, I have no idea."

"…A _wardrobe?" _stated Celebrian in disbelief.

"Yes," Elrond reached over and touched the 'fabric hanging from hooks' which he now realized were clothes, "There are robes hanging over here," suddenly, Elrond recognized the familiar texture, "_My _robes actually."

"We're trapped in _your_ wardrobe?!" Celebrain giggled at the absurdity of the situation, "Can we get out?"

"I believe if I…" Elrond searched along the front panel until his fingers hit a latch, pulling it, the door swung open, and he and Celebrian came tumbling out, tangled in clothes. Hitting the floor with a crash, Elrond lay slightly stunned and blinded by the light that filled his and Celebrian's bedroom.

He was suddenly brought back to his senses by a knock at the door, "Er, my Lord? Are you all right?"

Quickly untangling himself from the clothes, Elrond swept towards the door. Opening it, he found a rather concerned looking Erestor on the other side. The concerned expression quickly changed to amusement however, as Erestor took in his Lord's rather rumpled appearance. Elrond's robes were creased, his hair was a mess, and his circlet was askew. Despite this, Elrond had a very serious expression on his face.

"Erestor, we may have to call on a state of emergency, I believe I and Celebrian might have been attacked."

Erestor's expression of amusement quickly disappeared as Elrond explained what he could, and couldn't, seem to remember.

~.-.~

Meanwhile, Elladan, Lindir, and Haldir had just managed to drag themselves back to Rivendell, only to come across a rather horrifying sight. Elrohir and Legolas were perched precariously on the edge of a cliff, a group of ellith surrounding them.

For a moment, Elladan could only stare. What had happened? Surely his twin and Legolas hadn't been outrun by a bunch of _girls_? The thought was absurd; something must have gone horribly wrong, but how to fix it?

~.-Legolas's POV-.~

Legolas glared at the group of ellith surrounding them, so far they had done nothing but giggle and chat to each other, but Legolas recognized this for what it was. It was the final stalking and taunting of the prey before they were finally attacked. Desperately Legolas tried to remember what his father had told him to do if attacked, did he fight? Run? Pretend to be dead? Somehow Legolas doubted that would help in this situation.

Perhaps he should just jump off the cliff? He doubted he would be able to live with the shame of knowing he had been outmaneuvered by a bunch of ellith anyways. The things had finally gotten smart and split up. They had then come at him and Elrohir from three directions and effectively trapped them against the edge of the precipice.

Suddenly, one of the ellith, who Legolas assumed must be the leader of the pack, split off from the group and came towards him.

"Prince Legolas," the girl began, flashing him a wide, fake smile.

'So it begins,' thought Legolas grimly.

~.-.~

A little ways away, Elladan and Lindir were watching the scene unfold in horror; Haldir having decided a robin was more worthy of his attention. They had desperately tried to come up with a way to rescue Elrohir and Legolas, but how did one convince a massive group of young ellith to leave the Crown Prince of Greenwood, and a son of the great Lord of Rivendell, alone? Short of killing them of course.

It was quite impossible, thus Elladan and Lindir were forced to watch as a girl slowly advanced towards Legolas, clearly trying to convince him to do something.

Lindir was fairly sure he knew what. Undoubtedly, the girl imagined that she would be able to persuade Legolas to go to the dance with her, and they would then share a daring kiss on the edge of the cliff while all of her giggling friends watched. It was disgusting to picture.

Unfortunately, it seemed the only possible outcome of this situation, as there was nowhere for Legolas to go. Except off the cliff, which Legolas seemed to be actually considering, but surely he wasn't that desperate?

No, it didn't seem so; Legolas appeared to have accepted his fate at the hands of the girl. She was edging ever closer towards him, a fake smile on her lips, which caused Legolas to look highly uncomfortable. Lindir's and Elladan's hearts filled with pity for their friend and perhaps Haldir had finally realized what was happening, for he began to hum what sounded like an elvish lament.

The elleth began to lean towards Legolas, and he desperately tried to lean away; wobbling on the edge of the cliff. Elrohir seemed to be trying to figure out a way to help, but what was he supposed to do? Push the girl off the cliff?

Suddenly, a figure appeared at Elladan's side, "Young ones, as much as I hate to end the… fun you are having, a state of emergency has been called over Rivendell and I must ask that you all return home until the situation is resolved."

The group of girls groaned in unison, shot glares in Glorfindel's direction, and there were a few muttered complaints, but none dared to argue with the great Balrog-slayer. Slowly they wandered off in groups, the leader of the pack flashing Legolas a nasty glare, as if Glorfindel's appearance had been his fault. Finally, the young ellyn and Glorfindel were the only ones left on the cliff.

Glorfindel turned to Elrohir and Legolas, an amused look on his face, "Do I want to know what that was about?"

They shook their heads violently, expressions suggesting that they were going to be traumatized for life.

"Then I suggest we all head in inside, there may be one of evil hidden somewhere in Rivendell."

Elrohir shuddered, if Glorfindel though there was only one evil person in Rivendell, he was sadly mistaken. There were dozens, and none of them even tried to hide…

~.-.~

**Ellith: the plural form of elleth, so a group of female elves.**

**Wargs: wolf like creatures.**

**Elleth: a female elf.**

**Ellyn: the plural form of ellon, so a group of male elves.**

**Valinor: Also known as the Undying Lands, this is where elves will sail when they tire of Middle-Earth or are called by the sea. **

**Ada/Adar: Dad/Father**

**As always, reviews are appreciated. :D **


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do not own Lord of the Rings or any of Tolkien's other works.**

**Thank you LotR-HP-PJ, Nyla Evergale, and KatrineLaclyon for your reviews, Arista Elenriel and starfeeder24 for favoriting, sailor-starlight101 and Laerorn for both favoriting and following, and wonderpanda10 for reviewing, favoriting, and following. **

Chapter 5

The Fourth Day

The next morning began as any other for the five young ellyn; the warning of a criminal in Rivendell having been called off the former evening when no evidence could be found. The elflings were eventually persuaded, or threatened, out of bed, had their hair brushed (with what all the elflings considered to be far more force than necessary), poked and prodded into whatever their mother, father, or sibling considered to be appropriate clothing, and then they, without any coaxing, rushed to the dining hall for breakfast; leaving some very harassed family members behind them. After a hasty breakfast, the twins, Legolas, Lindir, and Haldir all gathered together and began their search for the six remaining barrels of red enchanted water.

Only this time, their search was leading absolutely nowhere, though it was not for lack of trying. The elflings were scouring the hallways and rooms of the last homely house and making regular checkups on the nobles to make sure they had not decided to partake in a glass of the 'Dorwinion wine.' Yet, so far, they had not caught a single glimpse, nor heard the slightest whisper, of the Greenwood barrels, and it was causing most of the elflings to become increasingly irritable and desperate.

Finally, a severely fed up Elrohir simply sat down on a nearby bench, crossed his arms and refused to move.

"Oh, come on Elrohir," begged an annoyed looking Elladan, "We're never going to find anything if we don't keep looking!"

"But we've been looking for _hours _now, and what have we found? Absolutely nothing!" retorted Elrohir.

"Well, we don't have to keep looking right now. It's about time we go check up on Lord Elrond and the rest of them," Legolas tried to persuade Elrohir.

"Fine…" sighed Elrohir, slowly getting up, but still looking severely sulky.

The rest of the elflings let out sighs of relief; Elrohir could be very stubborn when miserable.

The elflings all began moving in the direction of the second floor sitting room (none of the visitors were particular fond of the ground floor sitting room after the animal incident) where the nobles had been last they checked. Reaching it, Lindir carefully opened the door a mere few inches, and they all peered in, excluding Elrohir, who had chosen to stand back and continue sulking.

Elrohir found his curiosity roused however, when he heard his father mention his name. Immediately, Elrohir was at the door, staring inside intently.

"-Elrohir had wine on his tunic when he and the other young ones were brought to tell me if they had seen anything odd in Glorfindel's study, but I really doubt that he has anything to do with any of this."

"So your son has discovered the delights of wine already?" asked Thranduil with an amused smirk.

"Aye," answered Elrond, shaking his head sadly, "Eru forbid he ever gains entrance to the wine cellars."

Outside, Elrohir sputtered, and made a strange choking noise in outrage, causing Glorfindel to cast a confused glance in the direction of the door. Elladan quickly snapped it shut.

"I've never even had a single _sip_ of wine," exclaimed Elrohir, fuming, "and yet I am thought to be the makings of a drunkard!"

"Yes! We know, Elrohir! But shut up now, I've just realized something!" Elladan was nearly jumping up and down in excitement, causing all of the other elflings, including Haldir, to look at him rather strangely.

"The wine cellars!" crowed Elladan proudly, as if this explained everything.

Lindir frowned at him, "You've just realize… the wine cellars?"

"No! That's not what I meant," answered Elladan now looking annoyed, "I meant that we haven't checked the wine cellars for the barrels of 'Dorwinion wine'.

"What is this about Dorwinion wine?"

The elflings all spun around, their expressions of excitement at their new lead quickly changing to horror.

"Erm, good morning Glorfindel," greeted Legolas in a small voice, looking fearfully at the Balrog-slayer.

Glorfindel crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow, "Now, about this Dorwinion wine?"

The elflings glanced nervously around at each other and Haldir began fidgeting out of anxiety.

"We weren't talking about wine…," Elrohir tried lying.

Glorfindel didn't buy it; instead, his demeanor became even more severe.

"Well, we were," squeaked Lindir, "but we weren't planning to drink some or anything, we were just… talking about it."

"I see…," Glorfindel's bearing relaxed somewhat, "Well as long as you are not planning to drink any…"

And, with that unspoken warning hanging in the air, Glorfindel turned and re-entered the sitting room.

The elflings all let out breaths they hadn't realized they'd been holding and stared around at each other wide-eyed.

"That was way too close," Elladan shuddered.

The others nodded in agreement.

"Are we still going to search the wine cellars?" asked Elrohir nervously, "Or is it too much of a risk now?"

Lindir bit his lip, "I think we still have to, but we'd better not be seen."

So, still rather anxious and jumpy, the elflings began making their way through the halls. There was just one problem: where were the wine cellars? Thus, the rest of the morning was spent trying to find discover this supposedly existing location.

Eventually, when tempers were running high, Haldir paused at a door, causing the other elflings to let out exasperated sighs.

"Come on Haldir, we have to keep moving."

"But I think it's this way," Haldir pointed to the door.

"What? How do you know?" Legolas looked dubious.

"It smells like wine," answered Haldir with a roll of his eyes, as if this was the most obvious thing in Middle Earth.

Lindir moved closer to the door and sniffed, "So it does!" he exclaimed in surprise.

The next moment, all the elflings were standing around the door sniffing.

"Well, Mithrandir always says, "When in doubt, always follow your nose," and with that, Elrohir yanked open the door to reveal a dark, steep staircase.

"Are you sure that's what he says?" asked Legolas nervously, staring at the creepy looking stairway.

"Well, yes, and everyone says he's really wise…" but Elrohir didn't look particularly certain of his own statement.

"Oh, come on," Lindir put on a brave face, "What's the worst that could happen?"

"We might fall down the steps."

"What if the door locks behind us?"

"Thuringwethil might be down there."

"Don't be ridiculous, Elrohir, Thuringwethil is dead."

"How do you know?"

Lindir sighed and started through the door, he froze however, when his first step onto the stairs coaxed a massive creaking protest from the wood. Nervously glancing down at the board, he was surprised to find that it was in perfect shape. Giving the board a glare, he continued down the steps, and heard the step creak again behind him as the other elflings followed him down.

They descended into the darkness and it soon became hard to see. Squinting, Lindir was fairly sure he could make out another door. Carefully edging over to it, he scrabbled around for the door handle for a bit before finally finding it. However, pulling on it resulted in absolutely nothing, so Lindir tried pushing. When there was still no movement, Lindir leaned down and squinted at the door handle.

"I think it's locked," Lindir's voice echoed in the room.

The other elflings groaned.

"Are you sure?" questioned Elladan.

He moved forward and bumped into Lindir, prompting a yelp from the elfling as he whacked his head into the door.

"Oh, sorry…" Elladan too knelt down and examined to door. Sure enough, if he looked hard enough he could just make out the outline of a key hole.

"It's locked," Elladan confirmed, "So who would have the key…."

"Ada has keys to everything," answered Elrohir after a moment's pause.

Everyone stared in the direction where Elrohir's voice had come from.

"Are you suggesting that we _steal_ from lord Elrond?" horror was evident in Lindir's voice.

In the darkness, Haldir began to mumble something about 'insane.'

Ignoring this, Elrohir defended himself, "Where else will there be a key?"

"One of the servants must have one, how else would they get wine out of here every time someone wants a drink?" Legolas's deduction was flawless.

"Yes, but which servant? Do you really want to ask every servant if they have the key to the wine cellar? I somehow doubt that is going to work," Elrohir responded.

The room suddenly became very quiet.

Finally, Legolas broke the silence, "We're going to get into _so_ much trouble…"

Everyone else agreed, but they had to try.

Emerging out of the darkness of the staircase, the elflings all headed back out in to the hallway. They made their way to the nearest of their bedrooms, which just so happened to be Legolas's, and began plotting.

Elrohir plopped down on to Legolas's bed and his brow furrowed as he began to think, "Ada always keeps his keys on him, except for when he sleeps, so were going to have to either be really sneaky or somehow distract him…"

"But we can't steal them right now, he is still in the sitting room," Legolas pointed out.

"How about at lunch?" Lindir questioned.

"That might work," Elrohir agreed, "If four of us distract him, then someone might be able to sneak the keys out of his pocket."

"But none of us sit next to him, and he's sure to notice if one of us just gets up and walks over to him," Legolas countered.

Suddenly, Elladan leaped up from his seat, "I have an idea! What if one of us dresses up as a servant and steals the keys while serving Ada?!"

Grins appeared on all the elflings' faces.

"That just might work," Elrohir mused.

"Except he'll probably still recognize one of us even if we dress up in servants clothes," Legolas's face sank, "I mean, it's not like it would change a lot would it? Our faces would give it away"

"Unless he wore a bit of makeup," Elrohir pondered, studying Elladan closely.

"Hey! When did we decide that I was to be the one disguised?" Elladan exclaimed indignantly.

"You're the tallest," Elrohir pointed out.

"We're identical twins!"

"Yes, and you're always saying that you're the tallest, I'm just finally admitting it."

Lindir rolled his eyes, "Anyways, back to the topic; what sort of male servant wears makeup, Elrohir? It would look ridiculous."

Haldir suddenly looked up, "Unless he wasn't a male servant."

Elladan stared at him, eyes narrowed, "What are you trying to say?"

Legolas studied Haldir for a moment, "I think he's suggesting you dress up as a serving maid."

It was a good thing no one was near Legolas's room at that moment, for the loud shouting that came from within might have attracted a bit of attention.

"Oh, come on Elladan," protested Legolas, massaging his ears, "It wasn't that bad of idea."

Elladan glared at him, "I am _not_ dressing up as a girl."

"It's the best idea we've had so far though, someone has to do it," Elrohir persuaded.

"Then why don't you do it?"

"Because Legolas and I were chased around by girls for nearly a full day and were almost forced to jump off a cliff," contradicted Elrohir, "I think we've done our fair share of suffering."

"Then why can't Lindir do it!" Elladan gestured to the elfling.

"Because he really is too short," Legolas pointed out.

"Haldir then," Elladan stated firmly.

Legolas, Lindir, and Elrohir stared at him dubiously, as if wondering whether he had somehow acquired a head injury.

Realizing the ridiculousness of his own statement, and that he was trapped, Elladan made a weak protest, "But…but… Oh come on! You can't do this to me!"

The other elflings raised their eyebrows at him, and Elladan gulped.

~.-Lunch-.~

The dining room doors were opened and Haldir, Lindir, Elrohir, and Legolas entered, quickly taking their spots at the table.

It had been a fairly simple matter to change the 'Duty: serving lunch' list to include Ivorithil, a suitable girly name, much to Elladan's displeasure. They could only hope that no one would find Elladan's absence particularly worrying, or that they would recognize him in his disguise.

Finally, after waiting what seemed like an eternity for everyone to be seated, the servants finally entered. The four elflings easily picked out Elladan amongst the crowd, but no one else seem to have noticed the slightly too broad-shouldered and still rather short maid.

Despite this, Elrohir couldn't help be proud of their work, strange as it was. They had stolen a maid's dress from the laundry and, despite being slightly too big, it hid Elladan's not so girly shape well. His hair had been pinned up by Lindir, whose small and nimble hands were quite good at such things, and Haldir had shown some talent with the makeup, stolen from Celebrian, made even more impressive by the fact Elladan had been less than willing to have rouge brushed on his cheeks and charcoal outline his eyes.

Someone seemed to have finally noticed Elladan's absence from the table however, causing Elrohir to return back to the present moment.

"Elrohir, where is your brother?" Elrond looked around the table, confused.

"I think he said he was coming…"

Elrond frowned, but nodded, and Legolas let out the breath he'd been holding.

The servants began to serve the food, which appeared to be some sort of squash soup, and Legolas found himself holding his breath again as Elladan made his way towards Lord Elrond. Carefully balancing the soup and a pitcher of water on tray, Elladan tried to act as though he knew what he was doing. After all, how hard could it be to serve food?

Reaching his father, he gently placed the tray down on the edge of the table; propping it against one of his legs. He then proceeded to pick up the ladle and began serving the soup. Nearby, Elrohir quickly started up a conversation with their Adar, hoping to distract him. Knowing this was his chance, Elladan carefully began to slip one of his hands into his father's pocket, still serving soup with his other.

Unfortunately, with most of his concentration being set on stealing the keys, one ladle of scalding hot soup missed the bowl entirely and, instead, landed in Elrond's lap. Elladan froze staring in horror at the liquid broth slowly sinking into his father's robe. Elrond seemed to have not noticed quiet yet, but it was only seconds later that slight frown appeared on his face and he stopped mid-sentence. Then, quiet suddenly, Elrond's demeanor completely changed as he registered how hot the soup was.

The Lord of Rivendell sprang up with a shout only to find himself immediately pulled off balance by Elladan trying desperately to extract his hand from Elrond's pocket. Trying to catch himself, Elrond stepped back, only for his foot to collide with the chair leg. This was proceeded by a very awkward fall that not only took out the chair, but also caused Elladan to fall as well; his hand having become caught in Elrond's pocket. Desperately, Elladan tried to catch himself by grabbing onto the table with his free hand. The Valar were without mercy however, as he missed and proceeded to catch the table cloth instead. This caused Elrond's cutlery, glass, partially filled bowl, and Elladan's tray, including pot of soup and pitcher of water to come crashing down upon the two figures. The result was, needless to say, painful.

The grand finale of the whole fiasco ended in Elladan ripping his hand, and the keys, out of Elrond's pocket and running, shrieking in pain, out of the hall. The dining hall was left in chaos, some, who hadn't seen what had happened, were staring in shock at the shouting lord Elrond, who was drenched from head to toe in the hot soup. Everyone else was screaming and calling for a healer. Glorfindel was half sprawled over the table; having tried to catch the tray, Celebrian was trying to wipe some of the soup off her husband, and the four elflings remaining in the hall were staring in horror at Lord Elrond.

Then Elrohir sprang to his feet and quickly rushed out of the hall after Elladan, with Legolas, Haldir, and Lindir only steps behind him. They followed drops of soup until they finally came to the twins' bedroom. Inside, they found Elladan sitting on the floor, key clutched tightly in his hand, but staring down at his arms in shock. The reason for this was not hard to see; his hands and arms, which the soup had spilled on, were bright red.

"What do we do?" Lindir looked panicked.

Elrohir followed Celebrian's lead and handed Elladan a blanket taken from a bed so he could wipe some of the soup off. Eventually, Elladan's vibrant red skin turned to a light pink. Satisfied that he hadn't suffered from any burns, Elladan quickly changed out of the now soup covered dress, removed the pins from his hair, and washed his face.

"Well," he stated rather glumly, returning to sit down on a chair, "That didn't quiet go as planned."

"At least we got the key," Elrohir tried to be optimistic, but even he didn't feel particularly celebratory at having accomplished their goal.

"Do you think Lord Elrond's going to be okay?" Lindir asked in a small voice.

"Of course he will be," stated Elladan firmly, "the healers have dealt with worse burns than that."

"Yes, like the time the cook tipped a pot of boiling water on himself! Or when the apprentice weapon smith accidentally touch the metal that had just come out of the fire-," Elrohir began enthusiastically.

"I get it! I get it!" Lindir shrieked, covering his ears, and Haldir winced at the images that came to mind.

"Well," Legolas sighed, kneeling down to grab the keys from where Elladan had dropped them, "We might as well get this over with."

Minutes later, the elflings were standing before the wine cellars door. Opening it, they headed down the stairs and, reaching the bottom, Legolas fiddled with the keys for a moment before finding the one that unlocked the next door. The door swung open on well-oiled hinges to reveal… nothing; it was impossible to see anything through the darkness.

Lindir squinted hard to no avail, "How are we supposed to tell which ones are Greenwood barrels? If there even are any…"

"They have the Greenwood insignia carved into the wood," Legolas remembered.

"We should have brought a candle," Elladan groaned.

"Well, here it goes," Elrohir stated, before stepping into the wine cellar.

The next few minutes were spent feeling around blindly for anything that felt even remotely like a barrel and trying not to bump into the shelves.

Finally, Legolas made the first discovery, "Hey, I think I might have found one!"

"Really?" asked Elrohir, peering through the darkness in the direction he thought Legolas's voice had come from, "Where are you?"

"Over here."

"Oh, yes, that's _really_ helpful…"

With difficulty, the other elflings made their way over to where Legolas was standing.

"It's right here and I'm fairly sure this is the Greenwood crest on the top of it," Legolas stated.

"Are there any others?" Lindir's question was followed by a great deal of scuffling.

"I think this is another one right beside it!" Elladan exclaimed excitedly.

"There is another here," Haldir's dreamy voice echoed through the cellar.

"Three barrels!"Elrohir grinned, "We should take them back upstairs and make sure they're the actual thing."

A sudden creaking of the stairs caused all excitement to drain rapidly from the elflings however. For a moment, it was entirely silent except for someone's footfalls on the steps and the rapid breathing of the young ellyn.

Finally, Elrohir's voice permeated the darkness, "Hide!"

The elflings quickly took refuge behind barrels and shelves, hoping they were concealed, as it was rather hard to tell in the darkness.

Whoever had descended the stairs pushed open the door, as if they knew it would be unlocked, and the flickering light of a lamp flooded into the room. Once his eyes had adjusted Elrohir peered through the shelves he had hidden behind to see Glorfindel standing in the doorway.

For a moment the Balrog-slayer simply looked around without entering the room, and Elrohir hoped he might just leave, but then he spoke, and what he said made Elrohir freeze on horror.

"Elladan and Elrohir, I happen to know you're in here, so I would suggest you come out now."

Elrohir glanced over to where Elladan was hiding behind a few barrels. His twin's wide eyes met his own, and in that moment, Elrohir knew their game was up; Glorfindel was certain to find them. Feeling suddenly ashamed of himself, Elrohir stood up and moved out from behind the shelves, Elladan coming to stand by his side. Keeping his head down, for he dared not meet Glorfindel's eyes, he asked, "How did you know?"

"You thought I wouldn't notice Elladan stealing lord Elrond's keys? And with all your talk of Dorwinion wine, it wasn't very hard to realize where you would be taking them."

Elladan and Elrohir gulped, Glorfindel had seen past Elladan's disguise at lunch and now they were going to be in more trouble than could have possibly imagined. Elrohir couldn't even envision what their Adar's reaction was going to be when he found out who was responsible for the disaster at lunch.

"Now, come along, I'm sure you father won't kill you," Glorfindel began to lead the twins out of the cellar only to pause at the door, "So, where are these keys of yours?"

Elladan and Elrohir froze; Legolas had the keys.

Thinking quickly, Elrohir pretended to search his pockets for them, "They're right… Oh, I must have dropped them."

Heading back into the cellar, Elrohir looked around frantically; desperately trying to remember where Legolas had hidden. The slightest, almost imperceptible, click of keys alerted him to where Legolas was however, and he made his way over towards it. Once Legolas had handed him the keys, Elrohir mouthed a quick thank you, and headed back towards the door.

"Here they are," Elrohir announced, handing the keys to Glorfindel, who proceeded to close the door and lead the twins up the stairs.

Once the three remaining elflings were certain he had gone, they emerged from their hiding places.

"Lucky he didn't realize we were here as well," Lindir shuddered thinking how his father would have reacted to discovering that he had been in the wine cellar.

"And lucky he didn't lock the door," Legolas agreed.

"Seems like a little too much luck…" Haldir trailed off.

"Nonsense, Haldir, the Valar must finally be on our side!" Legolas exclaimed, not even wanting to consider the alternative.

Legolas then headed for the barrels and proceeded to pick one up.

"Come on Lindir and Haldir, you have to carry the other two here," Legolas then began making his way towards the door.

Lindir and Haldir hastily followed, Haldir still feeling rather dubious about their amount of 'luck.'

The trip to the caves was a relatively short one, the trek running smoothly and without any difficulties. Thus, the three elflings were feeling relatively happier once they accomplished their goal, though the twins' fate still hovered in the back of their minds. Glad to be done with the three barrels, the elflings began to make for the last homely house, intending to see if their friends were still in one piece.

Approaching the front doors however, Legolas felt his cheerful mood sink somewhat, for King Thranduil was standing on the steps, his expression suggesting that someone was in deep trouble.

"Er, good afternoon, Adar," Legolas greeted warily.

Thranduil raised an eyebrow, "Do know what lord Glorfindel discovered in the wine cellar not even an hour ago?"

Legolas gulped, "W-what?"

"He found both of Lord Elrond's sons, and he mentioned that I may want to speak with you," Thranduil's demeanor suddenly became much more intense, "So, you don't have anything to do with this, do you? I know you have been with them for the past few days…"

Legolas tried to say something, but his mouth was dry and all thoughts of how he could get out of this situation fled from his mind. Thranduil loomed over him, a frown slowly appearing on his face. Legolas swallowed and stuttered something unintelligible before beginning to tremble.

"Legolas!" Thranduil exclaimed, scowling fiercely, "You were not down there, were you?!"

"I'm sorry, Adar!" Legolas wailed, unable to lie.

A great deal of shouting then commenced and Haldir and Lindir quickly fled the scene.

"We're doomed!" Lindir shrieked, still running, "Everyone is going to hear about this! My Adar is going to kill me!"

"I'll ask the Valar to grant you a merciful death!" Haldir answered, not being particularly comforting, before sprinting off to hide from his brothers.

~.-.~

**Ellyn: the plural form of ellon, so a group of male elves.**

**Eru: the equivalent of God in Middle Earth.**

**Mithrandir: one of Gandalf's many names.**

_**Thuringwethil: A Middle-Earth vampire, who served Sauron, and could take the form of a bat-like creature.**_** [Might want to try and keep this in mind as it becomes important later (oooo, spoilers ;D )]**

**Ada/Adar: Dad/Father**

**Valar: Pretty much the equivalent of Middle-Earth gods.**

**All reviews are appreciated. :D**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I do not own Lord of the Rings or any of Tolkien's other works.**

**Thank you wonderpanda10, KatrineLaclyon, and Nyla Evergale for your reviews!**

Chapter 6

The Fifth Day

The breakfast table the next morning was rather silent; the five elflings terrified to accidently do something that might anger their severely touchy and irritable parents, and all the other elves at the table knowing not to disturb the quiet. Thus, the awkward silence resulted in a rather rapid breakfast before the elflings gathered together outside the dining hall.

Elrohir shuddered, "This is terrible, I don't think I've ever seen Adar and Naneth so angry. Even Daeradar and Daernaneth were…" Elrohir trailed off, unable to find words to describe his grandparents' reactions to his and Elladan's venture into the wine cellar.

Legolas looked rather glum, "Maybe we should just tell someone about the barrels, they're bringing us nothing but trouble."

Lindir looked frightened, "But everyone so angry already, wouldn't it just make them madder?"

The five elflings considered this, and Elladan finally broke the silence, "Probably," he admitted before a determined look came across his face, "Besides, there's only three barrels left, we can finish this; Doronor, Lalvon, and Toron are counting on us."

With that, the elflings set off, a new resolve to find the remaining barrels spurring them on. However, their search continued on much as the previous day's had; they scoured the Last Homely House, searched everywhere they thought wine might have been placed, and yet, they could not find anything.

Exhausted, Elrohir sat down and massaged his worn out feet with a grimace, "This isn't working; it's taking too long. We have to find the barrels _today_."

Legolas glanced out a nearby window; the sun was high in the sky and it was almost midafternoon, "Maybe if we split up…" he suggested.

Elladan blinked, why hadn't they thought of that before?

"That's a good idea," he agreed, "We could search a bigger area in less time."

"We can't all split up though," Elrohir pointed out, "I'm supposed to be escorting Haldir around."

Elladan frowned, "Well, I guess there is going to be a group of two, but everyone else can search on their own, right?"

The rest of the elflings nodded, and it was decided upon. They split up, each, except for Elrohir and Haldir, going a separate direction.

Elrohir and Haldir settled on continuing straight down the original hallway they had been exploring. Eventually coming to its end, they turned a corner, and nearly ran straight into Glorfindel.

"Good afternoon, Elrohir and Haldir. Where are your friends?" a look of slight confusion appeared on Glorfindel's face.

"Oh, they… wandered off somewhere," Elrohir's explanation was rather weak.

A frown marred Glorfindel's features, "I see…" He then swept past the two elflings and continued down their previous hallway.

Haldir watched him leave, looking suspicious, "How did he know we were with Legolas, Elladan, and Lindir before?"

"Well, we have been wandering around with them for the past few days," Elrohir answered before asking, "Why? Do you think he's following us or something?"

"Well, perhaps our elders don't want us to get into any more trouble," Haldir pointed out.

Elrohir rolled his eyes, not taking the usually very strange elfling seriously at all, "You are far too paranoid."

Haldir just sighed and began humming once more.

~.-Legolas's POV-.~

Legolas strolled through the Last Homely House's many hallways; constantly wondering where the last three barrels might be, and trying not to get lost. Surely there hadn't been this many rooms and hallways yesterday? Legolas paused for a moment, trying to catch his bearings. He was standing near Erestor's study, so if he went… where? Where should he be going? Where could the enchanted water possibly be?

Legolas ran a hand through his blonde tresses; frustrated. It was a never-ending circle of wandering around and wondering where the barrels might be. There had to be a better way to go about this. He thought hard, he couldn't ask where the wine was, obviously, the results would be disastrous if his father heard about it, he'd also been trying to search for the barrels for far too long with no success, but perhaps…

Legolas remembered how the last three barrels they had found had come into their hands by listening to a conversation. With preparations for the festival in full swing, surely there must be some mention of the wine to be heard? Perhaps some eavesdropping was in order, but where to start? Who knew where the wine was? Well, Lord Elrond would probably know-

Legolas's thought process came to an abrupt halt and his eyes widened in horror. Had he just considered eavesdropping on _Lord Elrond_?! Clearly the twins were getting to him…

~.-Elladan's POV-.~

Elladan peered into another storage room, which was of course: empty. With a sigh, he closed the door and continued on to the next one, which was also empty. Frustrated, he glanced out a window; the sun was just starting its descent. Going over to the window, he leaned against the frame, and stared at the flower beds three stories below; not really taking the beautiful sight in. Perhaps one of the other was having better luck? He doubted it, but maybe he should go- Elladan suddenly did a double take.

Was that Legolas sitting behind those bushes, his ear pressed firmly to the wall? Elladan pressed his nose against the window pane; trying to get a better look. Whoever it was had light blonde hair, and was dressed in expensive Greenwood garb. Either it was Legolas, or King Thranduil had suddenly gotten much smaller.

Elladan pried his gaze from the strange sight, and set off; intending to find out why his friend was hiding in a flower bed. After running down three sets of stairs and apologizing to Glorfindel, whom he had nearly knocked over, Elladan made his way to the main doors. Once outside, he sprinted in the general direction of Legolas, and found the bushes he had seen from above.

A mischievous expression appeared on Elladan's face as he saw that, through the branches of the bushes, Legolas was very focused on listening through the wall. He had his eyes closed and a frown of concentration was on his face. Unable to stop himself, Elladan dropped into a crouch, and slowly began creeping towards his friend.

~.-Legolas's POV-.~

Legolas listened hard, a servant had just entered the room that he was listening to through the wall, and Legolas felt a thrill of excitement sweep through him as they mentioned the preparations for the festival. The excitement was immediately squashed by guilt however, when Lord Elrond answered the servant. He could hardly believe what he was doing! Eavesdropping on Lord Elrond! If his father heard about this- No! Focus on the conversation! Don't think about being grounded for the next age!

Legolas pressed himself closer to the wall, trying to make out what the muffled voices were saying.

"-the Hall of Fire is being decorated as we speak, as is the entry hall."

"Good," answered Elrond, "I just have a few instructions concerning the Dorwinion wine-,"

Legolas's heart leapt and he found himself holding his breath. However, a branch suddenly snapped directly behind him, alerting him to someone's presence. Spinning around, he unexpectedly found himself flying through the air as someone tackled him. He and the other person fell to ground in a whirling mess of hair and limbs.

Acting upon instinct, Legolas punched his attacker and shoved them off of him. Ignoring their yelp of pain, Legolas desperately flung himself back towards the wall, and pressed his ear against it.

"-kitchens. As for wine glasses; please use the crystal."

Legolas sprang up with a triumphant shout. The wine was in the kitchens! He could dance, he was so happy! However, he suddenly found himself back on the ground, a very annoyed Elladan sitting on his legs.

"What was that for!?" Elladan exclaimed indignantly, pointing to a bruise that was forming on his cheek.

Legolas stared at Elladan in open-mouthed shock, "That was you?! Sorry, Elladan!"

Elladan got off of him, but continued to look annoyed, "What were you doing anyways?"

Legolas stood up, looking at the ground evasively and feeling guilty.

Elladan's eyes widened and a wicked grin spread across his face, "Ooo! Was little Prince Legolas doing something naughty?"

Legolas glared at him, "No! Well… maybe, but it's really not important. I know where the enchanted water is!"

All thoughts of teasing his friend mercilessly disappeared from Elladan's mind, and he gaped at Legolas. "What?"

Legolas raised an eyebrow, "You know; the enchanted water? What we've been searching for? I've found out where it is."

I massive grin slowly spread across Elladan's face, "Well? What are you waiting for? Let's go tell the others!"

~.-.~

"So the wine is in the kitchens?" Lindir asked; looking mildly surprised.

"And we never even thought to look there," Elladan shook his head.

Legolas nodded, "So, how are we going to get to it? The kitchens are going to be busy with the festival beginning tomorrow."

The five elflings pondered this.

"Another diversion?" supplied Haldir.

"Preferably one without animals this time," Lindir added.

"A fire would get everyone's attention," Elrohir thought aloud.

The other elflings stared at him in horror.

"I didn't mean set the kitchens on fire!" Elrohir amended hastily, "I just thought we could throw something into one of the fires that will make a lot of smoke or something!"

Elladan thought about this, "That's not a bad idea."

"As long as we don't actually set the kitchen on fire in the process," Legolas pointed out.

"Ah, you underestimate me," Elrohir said, a mischievous gleam in his eyes, "This is going to be _fun_."

The other elflings didn't find his statement particularly encouraging.

~.-Half an Hour Later-.~

The elflings were standing outside the kitchen door that led to the vegetable gardens; in each of their arms were very large bouquets of flowers. It was a rather odd sight.

Elrohir sighed unhappily, "Is everyone ready?"

Three elflings mumbled, "Yes," while Haldir continued happily sniffing his flowers.

"Then here we go," Elrohir opened the door and the elflings entered the kitchens.

Immediately, a maid swept over to them, "What can I do for you, little ones?"

"We need some vases to put these flowers in," Elrohir answered, holding up his bouquet.

"Well, isn't that sweet!" exclaimed the maid, "Who are they for?"

Elrohir stared at the maid blankly and Legolas stepped in, "Well, we thought we could give them to our partners at the dance in the festival."

The twins and Lindir stared at him; horrified.

"Why, that's just adorable! They're going to love you!"

Elladan made a slight choking noise at the maid's proclamation.

"Now, come along, the vases are in this cabinet over here," the maid began to lead them across the room.

Along the way, the elflings passed a great fireplace which was being used to cook an assortment of breads and meats. One by one, they tossed their bouquets into the flames; Haldir staring after his sadly. Almost immediately the fire began to crackle and pop; a torrent of smoke pouring out as the flowers began to burn. It didn't take long for the cooks to notice.

"Fire!" someone shrieked, and the room erupted into chaos.

The elflings quickly began to move away from the fire, dodging around cooks and maids. Elves were shouting for water to be brought, and all the while the room was rapidly filling with smoke.

"Start looking for the barrels!" Elrohir managed to shout to the others over the noise.

The elflings nodded to show that they understood, and began to make their way through the mayhem of elves running this way and that.

It was Lindir who found the barrels, and the other elflings barley heard his triumphant shout which alerted them of his success. They pushed their way through the crowd of elves and over to the pantry where they found Lindir proudly standing before the last three Greenwood barrels of enchanted water.

"Fantastic!" Elohir shouted, "Let's take them to the caves!"

The elflings grabbed the barrels and made their way through the smoke and elves as fast as they could. Bursting out of the back door and into the vegetable garden, the elflings coughed and choked; their eyes watering from the smoke as they raced towards the caves. Eventually making it there, Elrohir set his barrel down with the others and happily began to dance around; knocking over his barrel in the process.

"We've got ten barrels of enchanted water! We've got ten barrels of enchanted water!" he sang out.

"No we don't," Lindir stated flatly, staring at the barrel Elrohir had knocked over.

The other elflings spun around to face him.

"What do you me-," Elrohir broke off abruptly; eyes widening in horror.

The barrel Elrohir had knocked over had opened to reveal… flour. The barrel was full of flour.

"No!" Elrohir wailed, "That's not fair!"

Elladan yanked off the lid of his barrel also to reveal flour, as did Legolas.

"But how…," Legolas sputtered, "Lord Elrond said there would be Dorwinion wine in the kitchens!"

"Are you sure that's what he said?" Elladan growled, looking annoyed.

"Well… no. He said, "I just have a few instructions concerning the Dorwinion wine-," and then you knocked me over. All I heard after that was, ""-kitchens. As for wine glasses; please use the crystal."

"You fool!" Elladan howled, "He was instructing them on how to prepare the wine! He wanted them to take it to the kitchens and pour it into the wine glasses before taking it out into the hall! The wine wasn't actually in the kitchens!"

Legolas turned red, "Well, if you hadn't knocked me over I would have known that!"

"Don't try to blame this on me!"

"STOP ARGUING," Lindir wailed, "THIS ISN'T HELPING!"

It suddenly went silent and four elflings stared at him through the darkness of the cave.

Lindir's hesitant voice broke the silence, "Sorry."

"No, you're right," Legolas frowned, "We're being idiots."

Elladan nodded, "We need to find the last barrels now. How much time do you think we have before supper?"

Haldir answered, his dreamy voice echoing in the cavern, "I think it might be supper now actually."

The elflings stared at him for a moment before racing towards the entrance of the cave. Sure enough, the sun was just about to set.

"We're going to be late!" Legolas shrieked.

"We're going to be even later if you don't move!" Elrohir shouted back, pushing Legolas away from the entrance of the cave.

The five elflings raced towards the Last Homely House, praying to the Valar that their parents, or, in Haldir's case, brothers, weren't as grumpy as they had been this morning.

Luckily, due to the mishap in the kitchen, dinner was running late, and the elflings were barley on time. Hoping that they looked presentable, they took their seats at the table. Besides a few raised eyebrows at their near tardiness, there was no comment, and the elflings exchanged relieved looks. A few moments later, dinner was served.

"So, what have you been doing all day?" Elrond asked his sons, exchanging a look with Glorfindel.

"Er, we were…" Elrohir trailed off, unsure of how to answer.

Luckily, or perhaps unluckily, Celebrian answered for him, "Oh, didn't you hear?! Our sons were picking flowers to give to their partners at the dance!"

Celebrian beamed at her sons, while Elrond, Glorfindel, and almost every other ellyn who had been within hearing range of Celebrian's announcement gave them bizarre looks. Perhaps Erestor had swallowed something particularly sour to achieve the look he gave them; for surely picking flowers for a girl couldn't be that odd?

"You were what?" Elrond sputtered.

Elladan put on the best smile he could manage, "You know, picking flowers. We got them from that meadow near the falls. We thought it would be a nice surprise."

Elrond just stared at him and nearby Legolas and Lindir were barley holding back laughter at the twins' misfortune.

Feeling rather malicious after having seen this, Elrohir added, "And Legolas, Haldir, and Lindir joined us."

Legolas and Lindir froze, staring at Elrohir in horror. Elrohir just crossed his arms and smirked in response.

Thranduil and Maenor turned to stare at their sons who both managed fake rather feeble smiles. Rumil and Orophin just gave Haldir exasperated looks, not looking at all surprised at their brother's antics.

"See, aren't they sweet!" Celebrian exclaimed, still beaming, "They're going to grow up to be such gentlemen."

Down the table, Haldir choked on his food upon hearing this.

After supper, the elflings managed to gather outside the hall before being dragged off to bed early; part of their punishment for the wine cellar incident. After a quick scuffle between Lindir, Legolas, and Elrohir, which was apparently entirely accidental, Elrohir managed to quickly tell them his plan.

"We're going to have to search for the rest of the Greenwood barrels through the night. We'll meet you in the caves. _Do not get caught_."

The other elflings quickly nodded before racing off to appease their parents.

Nearby, blue eyes watched the exchange with great interest.

~.-.~

**Adar/Ada: Father/Dad**

**Naneth/Nana: the elvish word for mother/mom.**

**Daeradar: elvish word for grandfather.**

**Daernaneth: elvish word for grandmother.**

**Review please! :D**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own Lord of the Rings or any of Tolkien's other works.**

**Thank you Nyla Evergale, wonderpanda10, and LotR-HP-PJ for your reviews and also thank you to AnotherDawnLikeOurFlag for favoriting and following this story; it's nice to know that you are all enjoying it! :D**

Chapter 7

The Fifth Night

Elladan finished tying the knot between the last two sheets; tugging on it to make sure it would hold. He then went to tie one end of their rope of sheets around a bedpost. Meanwhile, Elrohir tossed the other end out the window, and soon they were scaling out of their bedroom; down to the ground two stories below. Hoping no one was watching, they sprinted off towards the caves.

When they got there, they found that Haldir and Legolas had arrived, and it wasn't long before Lindir showed up.

"So," Elladan began, "Can anyone think of where the last three barrels might be?"

The elflings thought hard, but nothing came to mind.

Sighing, Legolas got to his feet and began pacing, only to nearly trip over a barrel in the darkness. He gave it an annoyed look. Why did it have to be so dark? It was nearly as bad as the wine cellars; you couldn't see anything down there.

Couldn't see anything…

"You don't think we might have missed something?" Legolas asked, and idea forming in his mind.

"Missed something?" Elrohir asked.

"In the wine cellars," Legolas explained, "It was so dark down there and I think we might have missed something."

"That's a good point," Elladan agreed after a moment's thought.

"You mean we're going to go back down there?" Lindir sounded horrified, "Do you not remember what happened last time? We don't even have the key anymore…"

"Of course I remember!" Elrohir responded indignantly, "I'm not going to forget _that_ so easily, but we need to find the last barrels tonight. As for the key, we can get that back easily enough."

"How?" Legolas asked suspiciously, "Because if it involves pickpocketing lord Elrond again…"

Elladan snorted softly, "Do think we're really going to attempt that again? Of course not. Ada keeps his keys in his bed side table at night; we should be able to get to them easily enough."

Lindir groaned, "But that still means we have to steal from lord Elrond."

Elrohir rolled his eyes, "Oh, come on Lindir, it's not that bad."

Through the darkness some muttering about 'no respect' could be heard.

As they were about to leave, Elrohir suddenly had another idea, "What if we replace the barrels of wine we found earlier in the cellar with the barrels of flour? That way, even if there are no other barrels of wine down there, we still have something to do, and if someone comes to check on the barrels of wine before the festival, at least there will be some Greenwood barrels there."

"That's a good idea," agreed Legolas, and preceding this statement, Legolas, Elrohir and Lindir picked up the barrels of flour before heading towards the exit.

The five elflings slowly walked through the dark woods and towards Rivendell. The only noise to be heard was the chirping of crickets and the occasional yawn. Suddenly however, Legolas froze; peering into moonlit forest, "Did you see that?!"

"See what?" asked Elrohir, looking about wildly.

"There was something gold over there and it moved!" exclaimed Legolas, pointing towards a thicket of bushes.

Elladan rolled his eyes, "And, let me guess: it turned into a bat and flew off."

Legolas glared at him, "I'm not seeing things Elladan! There was something over there!"

Elladan let out an exasperated sigh and began to make his way towards the bushes.

"Elladan!" Elrohir shouted after his twin, "What are you doing? What if it is Thuringwethil?!"

"Seriously Elrohir? Thuringwethil is dead!"

Just as Elladan said this however, there was a crack of a branch from behind a nearby tree, causing the elfling to freeze in his tracks. However, he began to slowly edge his way towards the tree after a moment, much to Elrohir's dismay. Once near enough, Elladan took a deep breath, and peered behind the tree.

After a moments silence, which was nearly enough to make Elrohir's heart stop beating, Elladan spoke up, "There's nothing here."

Elrohir sighed in relief and Lindir rolled his eyes, "Of course there isn't. Who is going to out here this late at night?"

Behind him, Haldir muttered something about someone watching, causing Lindir to give him a glare, "Really! Didn't you hear Haldir? There is no one here besides us."

Haldir just gave him a questioning look that caused Legolas to roll his eyes, "Oh, come on. Let's get back to Rivendell before we all turn into terrified fools."

The elflings made it back to the Last Homely House and manage to get back in through Legolas window, which was on the ground floor. They dragged the barrels of flour in after them; trying not to make too much noise. Panting slightly, the elflings left the barrels of flour there before tiredly making their way towards Elrond and Celebrian's rooms. There they paused however, unsure of how to continue.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Lindir whispered.

"No," Elrohir answered, but silently opened the door anyways.

All five elflings peered inside the room. The moonlight lit the room to reveal two figures asleep on the bed; eyes open in elvish dreams. The elflings quietly tiptoed into the room, and carefully made their way towards Elrond's side of the bed, and his bedside table.

Holding his breath, and keeping one eye on his Adar's sleeping form, Elrohir began to carefully open the bedside table's drawer without making a sound. However, even though he was being as quiet as possible, Lord Elrond shifted slightly in his sleep; causing all the elflings eyes to go wide in fright.

Biting his lip, Elrohir continued to pull out the drawer, and managed to get it open wide enough for a hand to be inserted. He then carefully reached inside and began feeling around for the keys. Within seconds, he had found them, but as he began to draw them out, they jingled slightly; the metal clanging together and sounding overly loud in the quiet room. This time, Elrond rolled over, away from the noise, causing all the elflings hearts to begin beating rapidly in fear and for Lindir to press a hand over his mouth to keep from whimpering in terror.

Now somewhat panicky, Elrohir began to bring the keys out of drawer too fast and his hand hit against the wood of the drawer with a loud thud. This time, Elrond's deep breathing stopped and his head rose off his pillow. The elflings were lucky he hadn't been facing them, or they would have been caught for sure. As it was, they were barely able to duck below the edge of the bed and begin to hide underneath it before Elrond rolled over to face where they had just been standing.

Under the bed, all the elflings held their breath and Lindir was biting down on his hand now to keep from making any noise. Their horror only grew as they heard Elrond shifting slightly on the bed and his feet suddenly came into view; causing Elrohir's heart skipped a few beats. The elflings watched as Elrond stood up and walked across the floor to look out the window as if searching for what had made the noise. After what seemed like an eternity, Elrond turned and made his way back. However, he paused at the edge of the bed, causing all the elflings' hearts to beat rapidly. Was he going to look beneath the bed? Had he heard them? Suddenly, Elrond's bedside table's drawer was shut, causing all of the elflings to flinch slightly.

Finally, much to the elflings relief, Elrond climbed back into bed and only a minute later his breathing evened out. Quietly, the elflings began to carefully crawl out from beneath the bed and make their way towards the door. Elladan closed it softly behind them, all the elflings all paused there for a moment; staring at each other with wide eyes. They then rushed towards Legolas's room, the key clutched tightly in Elrohir's hand.

Once they had made it there, they finally breathed freely, shuddering in terror at their narrow escape.

"Let's never do that again," Elrohir decided; fist still clenched tightly around the key.

"Agreed, I think I nearly died," added Elladan; clutching at his heart.

The other elflings nodded in agreement, their eyes still wide with fear.

After a few minutes, which was how long it took for the elflings to calm down somewhat, it was back to work. Lindir, Haldir, and Legolas each picked up a barrel of flour while Elladan carried a candle to help them search for the barrels in the cellar. Elrohir carried their prize; the key.

They made their way to the wine cellar and carefully descended the steep set of stairs. Elrohir inserted the key into the lock of the door at the bottom of the stairs and turned it. He then pushed against the door, but it didn't open. Frowning slightly, he turned the key and tried again. This time it swung open, much to the elflings' surprise.

"It wasn't locked?!" Lindir exclaimed.

Elrohir nodded, looking just as shocked.

"How's that possible?!" Elladan asked.

Legolas thought about it for a moment, "Perhaps no one has been down here to lock it since we were last in here?"

Elrohir looked doubtful, but nodded, "Perhaps, but anyways, we should go search for the barrels."

The elflings enter the cellar, Elladan's candle providing barley enough light for them to begin searching. From the darkness of a corner, where the light did not reach, blue eyes surveyed the elflings as they studied each barrel, looking for the Greenwood insignia. The bearer of the blue eyes had a slight frown upon their face, not that anyone could see it, as he watched this; he clearly disapproved. The elflings however, continued searching, completely oblivious to their onlooker.

"Hey! Isn't that one of the barrels on that shelf?!" Elrohir exclaimed, looking excited.

Legolas peered in the direction Elrohir was pointing, "Possibly," he agreed, "Elladan, bring the candle closer."

Elladan did as the other elfling asked, and as he did so, the light revealed something better than all the elflings had imagined; the last three barrels of the enchanted water.

Unable to help themselves, the five elflings let out a cheer and Haldir did a little impromptu dance. They gathered around the barrels and began to remove them from the shelves; replacing them with the barrels of flour.

From the corner, their onlooker watched this, now extremely disapproving and frowning severely. However, a smile slowly began to creep across his face and a mischievous gleam appeared in his eyes. Grinning, the onlooker suddenly let out a low, frightening growl. The effect was quite spectacular. The elflings all froze, staring at each other in horror, and then Elrohir let out a panicked shout of, "THURINGWETHIL!"

The result of this outdid the onlooker's growl by far; the elflings all screamed and the barrels of flour, and multiple bottles of wine that had been at hand, were thrown towards where the growl had come from. The elflings then grabbed the barrels of enchanted water and sprinted out of the cellar as fast as their legs would carry them.

The elflings didn't stop running until they reached the doors that led outside. Here they hesitated, for a storm had sprung up and it was now pouring, but soon they were off again; racing through the rain and mud and towards the caves. They were only halfway there when a huge clap of thunder shook the ground and lightning lit the cloudy night sky. Now positively terrified, the elflings all ran even faster, sliding down the muddy hills, and crying out in relief when they reached the caves.

Placing the barrels with the others, the elflings huddled together as another boom of thunder shook the cave and small pieces of rock rained down from the ceiling.

"We need to get out of here," Legolas whimpered, "It might cave in."

As if in answer to this statement, another clap of thunder rang out and larger pieces of rock began to fall.

The elflings all let out a scream, which was barely heard above the loud rumbling, and raced towards the exit, but another boom of thunder caused the rock walls of the cave to begin shifting slightly. Before the elflings knew what was happening, the walls began falling apart, and large boulders and massive chunks of rock fell and blocked their escape. Now, nearly hysterical, the elflings all shrieked at the top of their lungs and ran in the opposite direction; away from the crumbling rock and clouds of dust that were filling air.

Eventually, when the chaos had died down somewhat, and only small pieces of rock rained down with each muffled boom of thunder, the elflings found themselves all huddled closely together near the barrels of enchanted water. Most of them were close to tears and the ones that weren't were whimpering uncontrollably.

"H-how are we g-going to get o-out?" Elrohir stuttered, looking fearfully towards the large pile of rock that now blocked their exit.

"Is there no other way out of here?" Legolas asked in a high pitched voice, wiping tears away from his eyes.

"A water fall comes through a hole in the ceiling, and creates a pool below, but unless you have some rope, we can't get out that way," Elladan answered, wrapping a comforting arm around his twin.

"A pool," Legolas said blankly, a look of fear appearing upon his face.

"The pool!" Lindir exclaimed, the same thought that Legolas had occurring to him as well.

"What's wrong with a pool?" Haldir asked, not sounding dreamy at all anymore and looking very serious.

Legolas didn't answer him, "Where is it, Elladan?"

"It's just down that way," Elladan answered, pointing, "But why…" Elladan didn't bother to finish his question as Legolas and Lindir had already sprinted off in the direction he had pointed.

The three remaining elflings glanced at each other before racing after them.

Soon they had caught up and Elrohir shouted, "What is this all-," he suddenly broke off as he suddenly registered the reason for which he had needed to shout.

The waterfall was a murky brown color and had turned from a calmly trickling stream into a raging torrent. It roared loudly as it fell into the pool of water below it, which was also muddy, and had risen significantly.

"Oh no," Elrohir stated in a whisper that went unheard.

How long had it been raining for? Elrohir thought, well, it certainly hadn't been raining when they had come to the caves earlier that night or when they had been stealing the keys, so that meant that it could have only been raining for twenty minutes at most. A look of terror appeared on Elrohir's face as he realized the implications of this; at this rate, the water would soon be overflowing from the pool and into the caves.

A hand was suddenly pulling Elrohir away from the edge of the pool, and he realized that the water had nearly reached where he was standing. Terrified, the elflings all turned and raced back to where the barrels were.

"What are we going to do?!" Legolas shrieked in a panic.

Unfortunately, none of the elflings had any ideas, or at least any ideas that worked. They tried screaming for help, but their pleas went unheard by those still asleep in the Last Homely House. They also tried digging their way out, but none of them had a hope of moving the large boulders, and they were soon exhausted.

Panting, the elflings sat down and eyed the steadily approaching water warily; it had nearly reached where they were sitting and they hadn't even been in the caves for an hour. With no way of escape, all the elflings could do was wait and hope for rescue before they were drowned.

~.-.~

**Thuringwethil: a Middle Earth vampire.**

**Ada/Adar: Dad/Father**

**Oooo, they're in trouble now aren't they? **

**Still, don't know who the mysterious blue-eyed elf is? Send me a review and tell me your guesses! Or just review, they're all appreciated. :D**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Lord of the Rings or any of Tolkien's other works.**

**Thank you for your reviews Nyla Evergale, wonderpanda10, and LotR-HP-PJ! :D**

Chapter 8

The Sixth Day - Morning

The sun rose and shined brightly over Imladris, inviting its occupants to bask in its rays while relaxing under the cloudless, blue sky. To all it seemed the perfect morning, and the best day for a festival to begin, or at least, for most; we must not forget the few trapped in the caves. These few miserable elves were still suffering from the effects of last night's storm, which hadn't ended until only an hour or so before the sunrise.

The rain had caused so much excess water to enter the rivers and streams that they were still at risk of being drowned; indeed, the water was now up to the elflings chests, and in Lindir's case, almost up to his neck. It also didn't help that all five of the elflings were nearly about to pass out from exhaustion.

However, their absence was soon going to be noticed…

~.- Celebrian's POV -.~

Yawning, Celebrian made her way to the twins room and knocked, "Elladan, Elrohir, it's time to get up."

The groans and complaints that usually issued forth from the room at this announcement were not heard, and Celebrian frowned, "Elladan? Elrohir? You two need to get up now."

The room was still completely silent and Celebrian sighed before pushing the door open, "Elladan! Elrohir! You need-,"

Celebrian abruptly fell silent as she took in the sight that awaited her; the twins' beds had been stripped bare, the blankets and sheets used to create a rope that was tied to one of the bed posts and extended out the window.

"Elladan?! Elrohir?!" Celebrian called, now sounding somewhat worried.

When no answer was forth coming, she made her way towards the open window and peered out of it; dreading what she might find. However, neither of the twins' bodies lay at the bottom of their makeshift rope, much to her relief. Her relief did not last long though, but instead faded away to anxiety, and then came the inevitable question: where were they?

Meanwhile, this question was also pondered by four others as they also tried to figure out where their respective charges may have gone, but, when no answer could be found and neither could the elflings, the five elves soon found themselves becoming increasingly frantic. Soon the group of panicked elves had spread to include many more, all searching for the elflings who had dared be so foolish as to wander away in a storm. However, there was one noticeably missing in the groups looking for the elflings:

"Where on Arda is Glorfindel?" asked Elrond, looking about as if he expected the Balrog-slayer to suddenly appear.

"Undoubtedly, he is still asleep," growled Thranduil, running a hand through his hair out of anxiety.

"My advisor is far more responsible than that!" Elrond began heatedly, glaring at the king.

"Then where is he?!" Thranduil shouted back.

"He's probably searching for our sons!"

"Then why are we waiting here!"

"What?"

"I thought we were waiting for your idiot of an advisor to arrive before we began searching for our sons ourselves!"

"As much as I respect you, King Thranduil, I would really prefer that you not call Glorfindel an idiot!"

Erestor sighed as he watched two of the most powerful beings in Middle Earth reduce themselves to quarrelling fools. Surely the realized there was more important things to be doing? However, two minutes later, Lord Elrond and King Thranduil still showed no signs of stopping, and had completely gotten off the topic of whether Glorfindel was an idiot. Instead, they had changed the subject in favor of the topic of whether the Lord of Rivendell and the King of Greenwood were idiots or not, and Erestor decided something really must be done.

"My Lord, your Highness, as… important as your disagreement is, isn't there something else you should be focused on at this time?"

Both Elrond and Thranduil looked rather ashamed after his statement, much to Erestor's satisfaction.

"Right, of course," Elrond stated, still looking abashed, "We should begin searching the Last Homely House immediately."

Thranduil gave him a dubious look, "Why would we search inside this house, when it is clear that our sons have left it?"

Elrond began to glare at Thranduil once more, "Because I fail to see why our sons would have stayed outside when the weather was so terrible."

"And I really think that if our sons were inside this house, they would have realized the problems they have caused and shown themselves by now!"

Erestor sighed, _here we go again…_

~.-Meanwhile-.~

Orophin stood to the side of Rumil, who was kneeling on the ground and studying it intently.

"Found anything yet?" Orophin asked anxiously.

"Yes, I actually have found something," answered Rumil, studying an imprint in the ground, "We've been following a deer."

"Rumil!" shouted Orophin, looking exasperated.

"Sorry!" Rumil exclaimed back, "But the rain washed away most of the tracks!"

"We need to find Haldir now," Orophin stressed the last word, "Before he gets into trouble."

Rumil didn't look particularly worried, "Ah, you know Haldir, he probably just wandered off somewhere and accidently fell asleep."

"Rumil!" Orophin howled, "He wandered off in the middle of a storm! Is that not a cause of worry for you?!"

"Right! Of course it is!" answered Rumil, sounding as though he was only saying this to appease his brother, "We should go back and try to pick up the trail again."

"Exactly," growled Orophin, "And this time it had better be the right one."

Rumil nodded hastily, looking warily at his increasingly irritable brother.

Running back to where the trail had last split off, Rumil once again began to study the ground, this time making sure the tracks actually belonged to an elfling before beginning to follow them. Orophin followed his brother, becoming rather ill-tempered with Rumil's slow process.

"Are you getting anywhere?" He snapped, his arms crossed over his chest, and tapping his foot on the ground impatiently.

"Patience, brother, these sorts of things take time. In other news however, these are definitely Haldir's tracks," Rumil answered, plucking a light blonde hair from the ground.

Orophin snatched the hair away from his brother, and stared at it closely. He then smiled, "So they are, brother! Carry on then."

Rumil muttered something about 'don't trust me at all,' causing Orophin to raise an eyebrow, "What was that? I didn't quite catch it."

"Nothing!" Rumil exclaimed hastily, and began studying the tracks with slightly more determination. If finding Haldir put Orophin's mind at ease, and made him stop being so pestering, then finding Haldir was most definitely at the top of Rumil's priorities.

A few minutes later, Rumil and Orophin found themselves in a small clearing backed by a tall cliff. Rumil continued studying the tracks until he reached a spot in front of the cliff where the ground had recently been disturbed, "The tracks disappear here."

Orophin looked horrified, "He didn't climb the cliff, did he?!"

"No…," Rumil studied the face of the cliff; there appeared to be an area where there had once been a cave entrance, but it was now blocked by rocks.

He examined the disturbed area of ground in front of the entrance and realized that the cave in had occurred recently, very recently in fact. Finally realizing what had happened to his dear brother, Rumil flung himself towards the blocked off cave entrance, "HALDIR! HALDIR!? ARE YOU IN THERE?!"

Inside the cave, Legolas suddenly started, "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Elrohir asked, sounding exhausted.

"I think someone outside is yelling," Legolas answered, listening hard, "Hey! Haldir, I think it's Rumil and Orophin!"

Haldir looked up in surprise, "Really?!"

Haldir began yelling; calling to his brothers for help and the other elflings soon joined him.

Outside, Rumil nearly danced for joy when he heard his brother's responding shouts, and Orophin looked as though he was about to pass out from relief.

"Quick, brother!" Rumil exclaimed, "Go tell Lord Elrond, King Thranduil, and Maenor that we have found their sons!"

"What!? I'm not leaving!" Orophin argued.

"But I-," Rumil began only for Orophin to give him a death glare, "Okay, I'm going!" Rumil amended hastily.

Rumil sprinted back towards the Last Homely House and soon found King Thranduil, who was searching the gardens for his son.

"I see why Lord Elrond wanted to search inside the house," Thranduil was grumbling to himself. "This is ridiculous. Why must there be so many hedges? It is impossible to find anything in here, let alone an elfling who does not want to be found… Ow! Since when did Begonias have thorns!?"

Rumil paused behind the king, "Your highness, those are roses."

"Ah, right, of course they are," Thranduil agreed, hastily turning to face Rumil, "So, what is it? Make it quick; I'm rather busy at the moment."

"Your Highness," Rumil began beaming, "My brother and I have found your son!"

For a moment, Thranduil was completely speechless, staring at Rumil blankly, then, "What!? Where is he?! Is he alright?" Thranduil shouted, looking panicked.

"He, my brother, Lindir, and lord Elrond's sons are all trapped in cave not far from here," Thranduil suddenly turned white, and Rumil quickly added, "But besides that, I believe they are fine."

Thranduil did not look relieved, "Tell me where the cave is immediately!"

Rumil did so, and Thranduil left at once; not running, but close to it. Rumil then went to find Lord Elrond, and several minutes later, he came upon the Lord who, like King Thranduil, was also muttering to himself.

"What is the point of having foresight, if it never works when you need it?!" Elrond ranted while pacing a hallway, "I could have found them ages ago if-," Elrond abruptly fell silent and swirled around to face Rumil, "Rumil! Where are my sons?!" then, before Rumil could respond, Elrond exclaimed, "Ah! The caves!" and swept off towards the doors of the Last Homely House.

This time, it was Rumil who was left speechless, but, when he had recovered, he went to go find Lindir's father; wondering if, and hoping that Galadriel was not nearby, all elven nobles were insane.

~.-Meanwhile-.~

Lindir clung to one of the barrels of enchanted water as, though it was partially submerged, it was the only thing keeping him from drowning. Nearby, Legolas, Haldir, and the twins stood on their toes to keep their heads from going beneath the water. At the moment, even though they had now been found, their situation was looking rather dire.

"Erm, Orophin," Legolas began in a conversational sort of voice, "You wouldn't happen to have an idea of how long it is going to take to get us out of here, would you?"

Orophin chuckled before saying in a teasing manner, "What is wrong, Prince? You're not afraid of bats are you?"

"I like bats," Haldir stated suddenly, "They're kind of like butterflies."

The elflings, in their sleep deprived and rather stressed out states, for some reason found this comment immensely amusing, and Orophin suddenly became anxious as he listened to them howl with laughter over one of his brother's ridiculous remarks.

"Are you all alright in there?" Orophin asked nervously, hoping that they weren't going insane.

"Oh we're fine," Elrohir giggled uncontrollably, "We're about to be drowned, but we are completely fine."

Another roar of laughter came from inside the cave after this comment and Orophin wasn't sure as to whether he should take Elrohir's remark seriously or not. Suddenly, before Orophin could think of how to answer, Thranduil swept into the clearing and towards the cave.

"Orophin! How is my son?" Thranduil asked, looking worried.

From inside the cave more laughter could be heard.

"Adar! Is that you?" for some reason Legolas sounded oddly choked, "Make Haldir stop making me laugh! I'm going to drown!"

Thranduil stared blankly at the blocked cave entrance, "Drown?"

Orophin shrugged, "I'm not entirely sure as to what is going on in there, your Highness."

Thranduil sighed, "Legolas, can you tell me exactly what has happened?"

"Of course Adar," Legolas giggled, "We came out here in the middle of a storm, then the cave entrance collapsed so we couldn't get out, and now we're going to drown," Legolas suddenly dissolved into hysterical laughter, "B-because, t-the pool o-overflowed and we now h-have w-water up to our n-necks!"

Legolas's hysterical laughter was suddenly cut off by a great deal of coughing, choking, and sputtering. He had apparently collapsed into the water do to laughter.

"Legolas, I want you to listen to me very carefully," Thranduil began sternly, "If I even hear a single peep of laughter after this point onwards, you will be grounded from training for the next age."

From inside the cave there came a very serious, "Yes, Adar."

Outside the cave, Elrond had finally arrived, "Don't you think that's a bit harsh?" He asked, looking confused; he had apparently only heard the end of the conversation. However, after everything had been explained to him, he was all for the punishment Thranduil had come up with, as were Rumil and Maenor when they showed up.

"Just a little longer, young ones, and then you will be out of there," Rumil said cheerfully, "Erestor is gathering together a group of elves to help."

"Oh, good, because I'm hungry."

"And I'm cold," Erohir added.

"And I want to go to bed," Legolas agreed.

"And I don't want to be wet anymore," Lindir decided to give his opinion.

"And I need to feed Fuzzy," Haldir finished.

Orophin looked confused, "Who's Fuzzy?"

"Oh, nobody," Haldir answered, sounding far too nonchalant.

Haldir was spared Orophin's interrogation by the group of elves Erestor had gathered together arriving. They set to work immediately, trying to clear the rocks, however, the cave was still filling up with water. Soon, all the elflings were clinging to barrels to keep from drowning.

"There has to be a better way to get to them," Elrond muttered to himself while pacing, "This is taking far too long."

"We can't get to them through where the waterfall enters the cave?" Thranduil asked, looking very worried.

"Possibly," Elrond sighed, "But the only way to get there is by climbing this cliff."

Thranduil, Maenor, Rumil, and Orophin studied the cliff's sheer face. It was tall enough that if someone were to fall after having climbed only halfway up it, they would risk seriously injuring themselves, and, if they were to fall from higher than that, well, the consequences would be severe.

"And I'm fairly sure that climbing it would a very foolish thing to do," Elrond finished.

Orophin sighed in disappointment, "Ah, you're probably right. Rumil-," Orophin turned to face his brother, only to find that he wasn't there, "Rumil?"

Orophin looked about wildly, trying to find his brother. Only, when he actually did spot his brother, he almost wished he hadn't.

"Rumil!" Orophin howled, "Get down from there at once!"

Rumil, however, continued to determinedly climb the cliff; paying no attention to his brother. He had a large coil of rope slung over one shoulder, and a knife in his belt. To an outsider, he would have looked like one of the classic hero characters in a book; a brave young man willing to do anything to save a few innocent children from a terrible fate. However, this was no child's story, and there was no guaranty that there would be a happy ending. One slip of a hand, a single mistake made, and Rumil could easily die.

This thought had clearly occurred to Orophin as he began to curse his brother's stupidity and stubbornness loudly; causing the eyes of the elflings in the cave to go wide. Then the realization that their once naïve and innocent children were being corrupted apparently occurred to the parents of some of these elflings as well, for Orophin suddenly found himself being forcibly shut up.

In the meantime however, Rumil had continued to climb the cliff and was now nearly two thirds of the way up. He grabbed hold of a ledge and Orophin let out a terrified, though rather muffled, shout when it crumbled. For a moment, Rumil swung by only one hand, but then he managed to quickly grab another ledge and keep himself falling from a rather painful and tragic death. He continued to scramble his way up the rest of the cliff, and everyone still at the bottom let out a sigh of relief when he reached the top.

Smiling triumphantly, Rumil made his way over to the large opening where the water fall entered the cave. The water was still rushing in a murky, brown torrent into the caves, and Rumil was forced to yell over the loud roar.

"Can you swim towards the water fall? Then I can lower the rope and you can climb up!"

"We can try!" Elladan shouted back, but looked rather doubtful; there was a very strong current coming in from the cavern where the waterfall was.

Clinging onto their barrels, the elflings began to kick and paddle their way towards the water fall. However, as soon as they got close to the entrance into the cavern, they were immediately pushed away by the current, and it wasn't long before all five elflings were exhausted.

"I'm sorry!" Lindir howled, looking close to tears, "I can't do it Rumil! The current is too strong!"

The other elflings would have agreed with him, but they were too exhausted to do much more than nod their heads sleepily.

Outside of the cave, the elves looked at each other worriedly, that was all the elves except for Elrond. He appeared to be contemplating some sort of agonizingly difficult decision instead of sharing in the other elves anxiety. Then, he suddenly raised his hand and the roar of the waterfall was abruptly cut off.

For a moment, no one said anything, and many elves looked very confused at what had just happened. Then a quite murmur of voices stirred as the rescue party of elves began to discuss this new shocking development; staring at Elrond in awe. Meanwhile, Orophin gaped at the lord of Rivendell while Thranduil, Erestor, and Maenor gazed at him with unreadable expressions on their faces.

"Erm, okay then," came Rumil's rather confused voice from the top of the cliff, as he wasn't entirely sure what had just happened, but wasn't about to question it as it was helping, "Now you can swim towards me?"

The only response from the elflings was the sound of splashing as they began to make their way towards the opening. Soon Rumil had five rather miserable looking elflings staring up at him tiredly.

"Right," said Rumil, trying to stay cheerful in the face of this gloom, "Now I'm going to lower the rope and you can climb out of there."

The elflings didn't reply and continued to stare at him blankly, it was clear that they were completely exhausted and Rumil realized that this might interfere slightly with his rope climbing plan. Sure enough, when Rumil had secured the rope to a nearby tree and lowered it into the cavern, Legolas only made it a quarter of the way up before his hands slipped and he crashed back into the water. This wasn't particularly concerning, after all he could always try again, but the fact that Legolas didn't come back up to the surface of the water after falling into it, was a cause for panic.

"Legolas!? LEGOLAS!" Rumil shouted, looking desperately for any sign of Legolas in the dark water, "Try to find him before he drowns!" he called to the other four elflings.

The elflings began to swim around where Legolas had fallen into the water, but in their exhausted state they weren't making much progress.

"How deep is this pool?" Haldir asked, trying to peer through the black water.

"I don't know," answered Elrohir, trying to search for his friend with his feet, "No one has ever reached the bottom."

Immediately after this comment, something large crashed into the pool, and a wave of water washed over the elflings. For a single extremely sleep deprived moment, Elrohir wondered why Rumil had taken his statement as a challenge to try and find the bottom of the pool, before realizing that Rumil probably wanted to find Legolas before _he_ discovered the bottom of the pool.

While Elrohir's rather fatigued brain contemplated whether it would really count as discovering something if you were dead, Rumil swam deeper into the pool. The water surrounding him became freezing cold, and it was impossible to see anything through the dark water. Soon the pressure of the water around him was making it increasingly hard to continue and just when he thought he would have to return to the surface for air, the slight glow of an elven body alerted him to Legolas's presence. Rumil frantically swam over to the nearly unconscious elfling and, grabbing onto his hand, began to pull him towards the surface.

After what seemed to be an eternity, and when his lungs were burning and black spots had appeared in his vision from lack of oxygen, Rumil's head broke through the water. Taking in large gulps of much needed air, Rumil pulled Legolas up the rest of the way and the elfling immediately began coughing and sputtering. Nearby, the other elflings let out relieved exclamations and helped keep Legolas from sinking back beneath the water. Outside, Thranduil was frantically asking for news on his son's condition.

"Everything's fine," Rumil answered the muffled shouts, "I think…"

Legolas managed to nod his agreement through his coughing and choking.

"Right then," Rumil grinned at the elflings after a moment, in hopes of cheering them up slightly, "Let's get out of here."

Instructing Legolas to hold on to his shoulders and wrap his legs around his waist, Rumil began to climb the rope with the small, shivering elfling clinging onto his back. Once he had reached the top, Rumil dove back into the pool and collected another elfling. This slow process continued until all the elflings where at the top of the cliff.

"Is everyone out of the caves?" Elrond called.

Rumil confirmed this and suddenly a loud roar of water could be heard. A massive wave crashed over the top of the cliffs above them, completely soaking Rumil and the elflings once more, before the violent torrent poured into the caves. The power of the water was so great that the ground began to shake and the cracking of rock within the caves could be heard. Without warning, the boulders blocking the entrance of the caves exploded outwards, and water rushed out of the opening bringing with it, strangely enough, ten rather battered Greenwood barrels.

~.-.~

**Arda: elvish word for Earth.**

**Ada/Adar: Dad/Father**

**Vilya: the elvish ring of power belonging to Elrond. May have the power to heal, preserve, and give the bearer the ability to control some minor elements.**

**Mwahahaha! Another evil cliff hanger!**

**So, who is Haldir's new pet, Fuzzy? Have you changed you guess on who the mysterious blue-eyed elf is (shouldn't be too hard now, if it ever was; I've given lots of hints ;D )? Send me a review and tell me what you think, all reviews are appreciated! :D **


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I do not own Lord of the Rings**** or any of Tolkien's other works.**

**Thank you for reviewing wonderpanda10, Nyla Evergale, EzmeetheHedgehog, and KatrineLaclyon! :D**

Chapter 9

The Sixth Day - Afternoon

The bright afternoon sun cast its rays through tall windows, shining upon a large room filled with beds covered in crisp, white sheets. Of these beds, only five were occupied, and thus we find the elflings. They lay asleep, curled under the covers in the main area of the healing ward. However, as it turns out, one wasn't nearly as asleep as previously thought.

Elrohir slowly slid out from under his blankets to place his feet on the warm wooden floor. Tiptoeing over to the bed next to him, he began to prod his brother out of deep sleep Elladan was currently involved in. Needless to say, Elladan wasn't particularly happy about this.

"Elrohir! What are you doing!? We're supposed to be resting!"

Elrohir quickly gestured for Elladan to be quiet before whispering, "I know, but Doronor, Lalvon, and Toron are going to arrive any moment now to deliver the real Dorwinion wine, and we're supposed to meet them!"

"Oh, right, I'd forgotten about that," Elladan answered rubbing his eyes sleepily, "What happened to the enchanted water anyways?"

"I think it was destroyed when the water wrecked the cave," Elrohir responded a slight frown on his face.

Then, completely oblivious to the fact that the enchanted water was actually in the kitchens; ready to be poured, the twins proceeded to wake up their rather foul tempered companions.

"Why can't we just split up again and some of us sleep while the rest go deal with this… whatever this is!"

"Fiasco?" supplied Lindir, yawning.

"Yes! Thank you!" Legolas responded, crossing his arms and frowning severely at a very exasperated Elladan.

Meanwhile, Elrohir tried to shake a highly unresponsive Haldir awake.

Elladan sighed, "Because that would hardly be fair to the rest of us."

"Do I _look _like I care whether it's fair or not?"

Groaning, Elladan grabbed Legolas's hand a yanked him out of bed, "Come on already, we need to be going."

When they had finally succeeded in waking Haldir, the five elflings dressed before carefully creeping downstairs without being seen. Slowly making their way to a normally unused exit, the elflings used the convenient bushes and hedges in the gardens to remain unseen as they crept to where they had agreed to meet Doronor, Lalvon, and Toron. They then proceeded to wait in a tree for a few minutes until the tell-tale clop of horse's hooves on cobblestone and creaking of wagon wheels was heard.

Quickly leaping from the tree to the stone ground of the courtyard below, the elflings impatiently awaited the Dorwinion wine's arrival. Soon Doronor, Lalvon, and Toron appeared leading a horse drawn wagon laden with ten small barrels.

Grinning cheerfully, Legolas greeted them, "You're right on time!"

Elladan surveyed the barrels before asking, "Are you sure it's actually Dorwinion wine this time?"

"Of course, young lord, the very best! I would offer you a taste, but…,"

"Oh, no, please do! I'm sure Elrohir would love some!" Elladan responded mischievously.

"I would not!" Elrohir cried indignantly before realizing how the servants might take this, "Well, erm, I mean, I sure it's great, but, um…,"

Doronor, Lalvon, and Toron just laughed however, "Where would you like us to put them?"

"Right," Legolas studied the barrels contemplatively, "We have to somehow get all of those to the kitchen."

"Quickly too," Lindir added, glancing at the position of the sun, which was low in the sky "The festival is going to begin soon, and it always starts with a toast."

In the end, everyone present grabbed a barrel, and both Doronor and Toron took two; holding one under each arm.

"Which way?" Doronor asked, and Elladan quickly began leading them in the direction of the kitchen.

The three servants were rather bemused by the fact that the elflings kept dodging into hallways and hiding around corners when anyone appeared, but they didn't ask any questions.

"Almost there," Elrohir spoke up, panting slightly before promptly diving into another empty corridor as someone appeared in the one they had been in.

"Here, let's go this way," Elladan said, peering down a different hallway, "There are less people."

He took a step into the hallway, but Haldir promptly shrieked, "Wait!"

Everyone turned to look at the terrified elfling, "We can't go that way, the wine cellar is right there!"

"Thuringwethil," Elrohir whispered, now also looking terrified, "We need to get away from here."

"Oh, come on, I doubt she is there any longer," Lindir said, despite looking rather wary, "I mean she can't even come out during the day, can she?"

Legolas chewed his lip, "Well, I guess vampires only do come out at night, or at least that's what I've heard in all of the tales told around the fire."

"Right, so it shouldn't be dangerous right now, there is still a bit of sun left, but we had better be quick," agreed Elladan.

The elflings then carefully began to make their way across the hallway; keeping an eye on the wine cellar's door, much to the three older elves amusement. However, when the elflings were almost at the end of the hallway, a sudden creak from within behind the door made them all freeze.

Staring at the wooden door, eyes wide with horror, the elflings watched as it slowly opened and a ghostly white hand appeared. The arm reached out slightly further to reveal a sleeve stained with red.

Finally, as one, the five elflings all screamed in terror and, dropping their barrels, fled.

Immediately, the cellar door was flung open and a figure stepped out from the shadows of the doorway. Turning, the creature cast blue eyes upon Doronor, Lalvon, and Toron, who remained standing still; staring in alarm.

"Greetings."

~.-.~

The elflings ran until their legs gave out. They found themselves outside in the gardens, near the Hall of Fire. Merry firelight glowed from the windows and laughter could be heard, taunting the elflings with its welcoming atmosphere, but they knew what resided within the Last Homely House and no amount of deceiving hospitality would ever convince them to enter there again. Or so they thought.

Dusk had now fallen, and the elflings found themselves shivering slightly in the cool fall air.

"What happened to Doronor, Lalvon, and Toron?" Elladan asked, wrapping his arms around himself.

"I think Thuringwethil got them," Elrohir answered, eyes still wide from fright.

Legolas was trembling slightly, "Shouldn't we try to help them?"

"But what can we do? We're just elflings," Lindir pointed out, "We need someone powerful like Lord Elrond."

"And his is in the Hall of Fire," Haldir said with a sigh, "And I am not going back in there."

The elflings all turned to look through the tall windows and into the Hall of Fire. It was full of elves, dressed in their best, chatting and laughing with each other. Servants and serving maids were bringing out food, and some were carrying trays laden with goblets of wine to put on the banquet tables, for when the feast began.

"Wait," began Legolas looking confused, "We never delivered the Dorwinion wine, so what are they serving?"

His question was answered when one unfortunate servant happened to trip while making his way through the crowd. Wine splashed onto one elleth and, after a moment, she fainted.

Elladan turned to stare at Elrohir, "Y-you said it was destroyed!"

Elrohir looked just as horrified, "I thought it was!"

Legolas looked close to screaming in frustration, "What are we going to do now! We can't let them drink that! They will all pass out!"

"And then Thuringwethil will attack and no one will be able to stop her," Elrohir realized, "They are all going to die! We must do something!"

Suddenly, Haldir leapt to his feet and sprinted away.

"Wait! Haldir! Wait! You must help us! Don't leave!" Lindir called after him, but Haldir didn't turn or stop. Soon he had disappeared into the darkness.

"No," moaned Elladan, "This can't be happening! We need as many people as we can get."

"Well, we're going to have to do without him," Legolas answered looking angry, "The coward probably wouldn't have been any help anyways."

"But we don't even know what we're going to do yet!" Lindir exclaimed, looking slightly hysterical, "And we need to do something now!"

"Actually, we do know what we're going to do," Elrohir contradicted.

The elflings turned to see a look of determination on his face, "We are going to stop them from drinking that water no matter what the cost!"

"You're right," agreed Legolas after a moment, "We can do this, we _have_ to do this."

"Exactly," Elrohir grinned, "We're going to march in there and tell them exactly what has happened in the past few days, and we will bear whatever consequence may follow."

"If Thuringwethil doesn't kill us all," Elladan pointed out.

Despite this last comment, the four elflings made their way to the doors leading into the Last Homely House with an aura of bravery and purpose about them. However, the aura seemed to dissipate somewhat as they left the warm light from the Hall of Fire behind and surveyed the dark doorway.

"Are we ready?" Elrohir asked, looking nervous.

"I t-think so," Lindir stuttered slightly.

Suddenly, a branch snapped behind them, causing the elflings to whirl about in fright. They prepared themselves to meet whatever might come out of the bushes, holding themselves in what they hoped was a fighting stance. A bush rustled, and the elflings tensed, only for Haldir to appear, a number of leaves tangled in his hair and… was that a skunk he was holding?

Sure enough, when Haldir held up the small animal, it became obvious that the creature was indeed a skunk.

"Meet Fuzzy," Haldir said proudly.

The other four elflings stared.

Finally, Lindir found his voice, "Is that the skunk from the sitting room?"

Haldir nodded, "He was cute, so I decided to keep him."

"And you named him… _Fluffy_?" Legolas asked in disbelief.

"Fuzzy," Haldir corrected.

Legolas stared at him, "You're insane."

"You just realized that?" Elladan muttered.

"On another topic," Elrohir began, "Why exactly have you brought a skunk?"

"Well, Fuzzy did such a good job of keeping them from drinking the enchanted water last time that I thought he might be able to do it again," Haldir answered, gently petting the black and white animal in his arms while cooing at him "Isn't that right, Fuzzy?"

"He is talking to the skunk, Elrohir," Elladan muttered, "The _skunk_."

Elrohir just rolled his eyes, "Are you really surprised? Anyways, I think we might be able to use… Fuzzy."

Elrohir then proceeded to share his plan with the others.

~.-.~

Three elflings slowly crept through the hallways, carefully listening for any noise besides the sound of distant laughter and their own breathing. If this had been one of the ghost stories they had listened to around the fire, Elladan thought, there would be cobwebs hanging off the chandeliers and a rat skittering across the floor, but the Last Homely House looked as it always had; clean and, well, homely.

"Stay focused, Elladan!" Elrohir suddenly hissed, "Thuringwethil might be around any corner! We need to be ready for her!"

"Right," Elladan whispered, "Sorry."

"You realize what we're doing is insane right," Legolas muttered, "We really should just get someone from the Hall of Fire."

"Like they would believe us," Elrohir responded before adding sarcastically "Hey, we happened to find Thuringwethil in the wine cellar. Will you come kill her? Trust me, hunting down Thuringwethil and leading her to them may not seem very smart, but it will work, and even if we don't succeed, Lindir and Haldir can let loose Fuzzy on the elves in the Hall of Fire to stop them from drinking the enchanted water. Then they at least will be conscious when Thuringwethil attacks. This plan can't fail!" he added proudly, for a moment forgetting that the chances of them surviving their encounter with Middle Earth's vampire were really very slim; almost non-existent.

Legolas sighed, but didn't say anything.

Soon they neared the kitchens in their wanderings, and heard footsteps slowly approaching them. All the elflings hearts suddenly began to beat faster and adrenaline rushed through them.

"It has to be her; everyone else is in the Hall of Fire!" Elladan exclaimed.

"Okay, what do we do now?!" Legolas chewed his lip nervously, looking panicked.

"Just wait, and be quiet," Elrohir answered in a whisper, "We need the element of surprise."

Suddenly, a white figure appeared at the end of the dark hallway Elrohir was peering into from around a corner, and began to approach the elflings.

"Elrohir, Elladan, and Legolas, I know you're there, so you can come out now."

The elflings all froze; they knew that voice.

"Glorfindel," Elrohir breathed, "Thuringwethil has turned Glorfindel into a vampire!"

As Glorfindel began to slowly get closer, Elrohir could see the ominous red blood staining his robes and some of his skin. Summoning his courage, Elrohir stood to face his former friend and tutor.

"Ai! The shadow will never be victorious! Defeat me if you can, spawn of Morgoth!"

"Elrohir!" Glorfindel exclaimed looking shocked, and Elrohir quickly turned and ran, the other two elflings following him.

"Wait! No! Come back, Elrohir!" Glorfindel called after them before giving chase.

"It's working!" Legolas shrieked, "He's following us!"

"We know!" Elladan howled, "Keep running!"

The three elflings sprinted as fast as they could towards the Hall of Fire, Glorfindel only strides behind them, but the safe haven they were running to had never seemed so far away.

~.-.~

"May we toast to the Valar, and the beauty of Arda they have gifted unto us…" came Lord Elrond's voice.

Lindir and Haldir peered through the door they had cracked open; watching the proceedings.

"Shouldn't they be here by now?" Lindir asked, tugging nervously at a strand of his hair, "You don't think Thuringwethil got them do you, Haldir?"

Haldir shrugged, petting Fuzzy, "Even if she did catch them, she should be here by now; it's not like they would've taken very long to finish off."

Lindir froze, mid tug of his hair, and stared blankly at the elfling. Finally he managed to choke out a response, "You're rather cynical … and really morbid," after a slight pause he added, "But really, is that what you honestly think? Because we should probably set Fuzzy on the elves then; they're going to drink the enchanted water soon…" he looked anxiously into the Hall of Fire where Elrond was finishing up his speech.

"I guess we should-," Haldir suddenly broke off, the sound of rapid footfalls and… was that Glorfindel yelling? Could be heard coming towards them. Suddenly, Elrohir pelted around a corner and bolted down the hallway towards them, right behind him were Elladan and Legolas, and right on their heels was Glorfindel, except there was something odd about him; why was he so white? And was that blood on his robe? In addition to his odd appearance, Glorfindel also looked severely annoyed and was yelling at the elflings just ahead of him, "Really, Elrohir! Would you stop running? I need to speak with you! Now, Elrohir!"

Elrohir just increased his voice in volume so that he could be heard over Glorfindel, "Lindir! Haldir! Open the doors! Open the doors!" he shrieked; looking panicked.

Glorfindel looked up from the elflings he was chasing and in the direction they were running. A look of horror spread across his face, "No! Wait Lindir! Don't open them!"

He was too late though, and Lindir threw the doors open with a bang and darted into the Hall of Fire; Haldir following him. They were slightly to slow however, for inside the hall, Elrond had just finished his speech.

Those nearest the doors, turned to stare at the two elflings in alarm, but those further away proceeded to drink the enchanted water. Lindir and Haldir slid to a halt on the polished wooden floors and watched in dismay as the nobles at the far end of the hall sipped their wine, only to look confused at the taste.

"What is this!?" Began king Thranduil, looking annoyed, "This isn't Dorwinion-," he broke off suddenly and passed out in unison with a number of other elves. As they crashed to the floor, a resounding "thud" echoed throughout the Hall. After this, there was dead silence while everyone stared in surprise at the unconscious elves.

Elrohir, Elladan, and Legolas flew into the Hall of Fire, but skidded to a halt behind Lindir and Haldir when they saw the majority of elves passed out on the floor. They stared at them in despair; who was going to fight Glorfindel and Thuringwethil now?

Suddenly, Elrohir became aware that the cause of his anguish was standing behind them. Quickly turning, he found himself looking up at a very shocked Glorfindel, but there was something odd about him. He was indeed very white, but his skin was strangely powdery and rather crusty in areas. There was also a very strong smell of wine about him, and his hair was caked with the same white powder that was on his skin.

Slowly Glorfindel tilted his head to look down at the elflings, his eyes narrowing, "There had better be a good explanation for this."

Elrohir gulped and a terrified whimper escaped Lindir.

"D-don't kill us please," Elladan stuttered.

Glorfindel looked confused, "Why would I- ah, right, Doronor told me about this Thuringwethil catastrophe, and I have a question for you," Glorfindel suddenly turned very stern, "Do I _look_ like a maiden to you?"

Someone spoke up from nearby, "Depends on the lighting."

Glorfindel turned swiftly to face the offending elf, and indignant look upon his face, "Erestor!"

The advisor just smiled before holding up the goblet in his hand, "Enchanted water from Greenwood, if you were wondering," he gestured to the unconscious elves, "They should hopefully wake up in a few hours or so."

"How did enchanted water…" Glorfindel looked in disbelief at the goblet, before turning once more to study the elflings critically, "You have a lot of explaining to do."

Elrohir was rather confused, but attempted a nervous smile.

~.-A Few Hours Later-.~

Five elflings sat in lord Elrond's study, fidgeting and looking nervously at the study's closed door every now and then.

"What do you think they will do to us?" Lindir asked, anxiously tugging at a strand of his hair, "I mean they won't… execute us will they?"

"I think that would be classified as kinslaying, Lindir," answered Elladan, but sounded as if he were trying to convince himself of this fact.

"But we didn't tell them that the Dorwinion wine was actually enchanted water when we first learned about it, so technically we allowed them to be poisoned," Legolas pointed out, "Which would mean that we have technically done harm to them, and wouldn't it be alright for them to kill us if they think that's an appropriate punishment?"

"Oh, come on, our parents won't kill us," Elrohir said with false cheerfulness, trying to convince himself that everything wasn't as bad as Legolas made it sound.

"But didn't Naneth say something about murdering us if we caused any more trouble? You know, after we went into the wine cellar for the first time?" Elladan questioned, becoming more worried about their punishment by the second.

"Did she?" Elrohir's faked cheerful manner deteriorated rapidly.

Suddenly, a strangled, high-pitched squeaking noise was sounded, causing the other four elflings to turn towards a wide-eyed Haldir who now had his hands pressed over his mouth.

"What is…," Legolas trailed of as he also realized, or rather _heard_, what was wrong; coming towards the study was the sound of many footsteps accompanied by raised and very grim sounding voices.

A terrified whimper escaped Lindir as the door to the study was flung open rather violently and King Thranduil swept in, a number of elves following him. He suddenly grabbed Legolas by the shoulders, looking him directly in the eye with a very serious expression on his face, "Who is doing this? Who or what is attacking? Surely you must know? You were trying to stop them after all…"

Legolas stared at him, looking clueless and very confused, "What are you speaking of Adar? I don't understand… Wait, someone is attacking us?!" Legolas was horrified now, "What is going on Adar?!"

Elrond spoke up, "Let us not come to conclusions yet, we need more information before anything can be decided."

"Elrond," Thranduil turned to face the half-elf, "A number of elves have been poisoned including yourself, twice might I add, I think we can conclude that something is trying to attack us."

Suddenly, the door was flung open once more and Doronor, Lalvon, and Toron charged in.

"My Lords and Ladies," Doronor began panting slightly, "Do not blame the young ones, it was our doing!"

Thranduil stared at the three elves blankly for a moment, "And… what exactly was you're doing?"

"The Dorwinion wine, your Majesty, we are the ones-," Doronor was abruptly cut off by a number of the other elves present as they started shouting.

Amongst the yells, a number of allegations could be heard, the majority of them coming from the elves of Rivendell. Most of the elves were pointing at King Thranduil and the other elves of Greenwood, screaming accusations of them trying to take over Imladris. Those of Greenwood did not appreciate this and promptly began shouting back; claiming that they were not trying to do anything of the sort. The elves of Lothlorien soon also got into the argument, blaming the Greenwood elves for poisoning their Lord and Lady.

The whole scene was looking to become a large and very violent brawl. The elflings had been huddled back in a corner by their elders as they tried to keep their charges away from the slightly out of control crowd of elves. The lords and ladies of the different elven settlement were desperately seeking to calm their people, but they were proving to be very resistant to their efforts. Finally, someone shouted, "Enough!" and it was said in such a way that all elves immediately fell silent; turning to face the highly imposing figure of Lady Galadriel.

As the elves stared at her warily however, her demeanor became less severe and she turned to face the elflings. Elrohir began to feel uncomfortable as her eyes bored into his, as if she were looking for something in them. She suddenly turned away to face the three servants from Greenwood, and Elrohir could tell they were receiving the same treatment. Then, unexpectedly, she laughed. As her chuckle resonated around the crowded room, many of the elves began to look confused.

"My lady," began Thranduil hesitantly, "We are being attacked," this received a number of mutinous mutters which the king of Greenwood silenced with a glare, "This is not something to be amused about."

Galadriel just laughed once more, "So it would seem, but perhaps things are not as they seem?"

This just left the elves more bewildered.

"Perchance you should ask the elflings to tell their tale," Galadriel suggested, "You may find it enlightening."

She settled in a chair and gazed expectantly and the elflings, who hesitated slightly, looking towards their parents. When they received nods confirming that they should begin, Legolas hesitantly began to speak, "Well, I suppose it all began in the courtyard when we first arrived here…"

He continued the story with the occasional inference from the other elflings, but their story was not interrupted and they eventually reached the end.

"And that's how we ended up here," Legolas finished, nervously glancing around at the elves and trying to judge what their reactions had been to his tale.

Elrond was the first to speak, "So… not only did you not tell us that the Dorwinion had been replaced with enchanted water, but you also stole, lied, eavesdropped, caused harm to a number of elves on three separate occasions, and nearly set the kitchens on fire."

Elrohir bit his lip, "Well, it sounds really bad when you put it that way…"

"But, my Lord," Doronor spoke up, looking desperately at Elrond, "They only did these things on me and my fellow servants behalf. If we had known the lengths they would be forced to in order to help us, we would have never agreed to this plan. Do not punish the elflings for our folly."

Thranduil faced the three servants, "Ai, but the elflings should have known, my son in particular," Thranduil cast a severe glance at Legolas who squirmed in his chair, "when things had gone too far, and told us of this mistake."

Suddenly, Elladan tentatively spoke up, "Erm, you say that we caused harm to elves on three separate occasions, but I can only recall two. Not that's any better or anything," he added hastily.

Legolas frowned, what Elladan had said was true; they had only attacked one elf at the beginning of this whole catastrophe in order to get the barrel he was carrying and set the animals on the nobles in the sitting room. That only added up to two occurrences of them harming elves, not three.

"Who else did we harm?" Legolas asked, confused.

Glorfindel stepped forward, he had managed to clean himself up somewhat, but he still had bits of white powder stuck in his hair and smelled slightly of wine, "That would be me, though you did not know that at the time, and I'm not particularly sure this occurrence should be taken into account," he added, casting a glance at Elrond, "As it was my fault you attacked me in the first place."

The elflings just stared at him, even more confused than before. _They had attacked Glorfindel?!_ _When?!_

Glorfindel sighed, "I see an explanation is necessary. After your first venture into the wine cellar, certain Lords and Ladies asked me to keep an eye on you as they were busy debating who or what was poisoning the elves. I overheard your plans to sneak out last night and followed you to the caves, where I once again overheard your plans to enter the wine cellars once more. I then intended to hide in the cellar, simply to make sure you did not actually follow through with your plans, and started back towards the Last Homely House. Legolas, caught a glimpse of me here however, but you merely put it off as him seeing things."

Legolas gave Elladan an I-told-you-so look.

"After this, I took a key from one of the servants, and hid myself away in the wine cellar. I could not re-lock the door from within however, so it remained open when you entered," here Glorfindel began frowning at the elflings slightly, "I watched you find the last three barrels of enchanted water, but I, thinking that you were stealing wine, decided the best way to keep you from doing this was by scaring you away. It seemed a good idea at the time; it would not only get you out of the wine cellar, but most likely keep you from coming back as well. However, when I growled at you, you were naturally frightened, and instinctively tried to defend yourselves by throwing the barrels of flour and bottles of wine at me."

Looks of horror had appeared on all the elflings faces.

"B-but, but we thought-," Elrohir stuttered.

"-That I was Thuringwethil," Glorfindel finished, raising a number of snickers from the elves present, "Doronor, Lalvon, and Toron informed of this, and told me that you had been intending to go to the kitchens before you ran off, and that is where I began to search for you, and eventually found you," Glorfindel concluded.

"So," one of Rivendell's more severe advisors stepped forward, "A number of elves harmed on three separate occasions, thievery from a Lord, eavesdropping on important private matters, lying to a Lord, arson, and they also caused a great deal of unnecessary anxiety for those who thought elves were being deliberately poisoned. Lord Elrond, these are no minor offenses, surely they must be brought before the court at least? As for these fools," the advisor turned to face Lalvon, Doronor, and Toron with a haughty expression on his face, "They have provided the means for these young children to commit the crimes they have; they must certainly be tried for being accomplices in this misconduct."

Doronor turned to face him, "Now really, if we hadn't made the mistake with the Dorwinion wine in the first place, they would never have had to do those things to begin with."

"Ah, yes, but they did do them is the problem," the advisor pointed out.

"I'd like to add that I won't be pressing charges for the attack against me," Glorfindel stated, "It was hardly their fault."

"Now, really lord Glorfindel! The elflings attacked you, there must be justice done for them to learn their lesson!"

Suddenly, the elflings found themselves being prodded and directed out of the study by lady Celebrian, "Come now, children, we know what has happened, there is no need for you to be here any longer."

Once they were a suitable distance from the study, Elrohir spoke up, "Nana, what will they do to us?"

Celebrian gave him a comforting smile, "Don't worry about it child. Now, were you not supposed to be in the healing halls?"

"Well, yes, but we had to sneak out to meet Doronor, Lalvon, and Toron."

Celebrian frowned slightly, "How did you get past Cielleth? She was supposed to be watching you."

"She's terrified of spiders; it wasn't really that hard figure out how to get away from her."

"Elrohir!"

~.-.~

**Thuringwithil: a Middle Earth vampire.**

**Elleth: a female elf.**

**Morgoth: the antagonist in the Silmarilion and pretty much the earlier version of Sauron (Sauron was actually one of his followers) except a lot more powerful.**

**Valar: the equivalent of gods in Middle Earth.**

**Arda: the elvish word for Earth.**

**Kinslaying: when elves kill other elves, which rarely happens in the history of Middle Earth.**

**Naneth/Nana: Mother/Mom**

**Ada/Adar: Dad/Father**

**Galadriel's mystical mind-reading powers: Galadriel possesses one of the three elven rings, it is possible that this is what gives her the power to read others minds, though it may be her mirror that allows for this. **

**A/N: So, yes, Glorfindel was the mysterious blue-eyed elf, I think everyone guessed that right!**

**Only one more chapter left! Please Review. :D**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I do not own Lord of the Rings or any of Tolkien's other works.**

**Thank you Nyla Evergale, wonderpanda10, and KatrineLaclyon for reviewing, mirkwood unicorn for reviewing and favoriting, TantalumCobolt for favoriting and following, and svionluynes for following.**

**Hope you enjoy the last chapter! :D**

Chapter 10

The Seventh Day

The five elflings sat at the table, too nervous to eat their breakfast. They continually glanced at the number of elves who had been in Elrond's study the night before; had they decided what their punishment would be? However, the elves faces were unreadable, and whenever one of the elflings caught there gaze, the elf would quickly look away.

Finally, when breakfast concluded, Lord Elrond simply glanced at the elflings and they immediately knew they were to follow him. As they began to trail after him, a few more elves joined them, consisting of those related to the five elflings with the exception of Glorfindel and Erestor. The elfling anxiously glanced at their family, but they continued to lead them to Elrond's study without looking at them.

When they eventually arrived, Elrond gestured for them to sit in the five chairs set out in the center of the room. Elrohir did so, despite it being the last thing he wanted to do, and Haldir sat next to him, nervously swinging his feet. The other elflings all took their chairs and the adults assembled before them; fixing them with stern glares.

For a moment in his nervous state, Elrohir absentmindedly wondered if you had to take a class on learning this look when you became an adult, for they were all agonizingly similar with their narrowed eyes, eyebrows drawn together, and slight frowns. His train of thought was halted however, when Elrond stepped forward and began to speak, "I am sure you all know exactly why you have been brought here?"

The elflings nodded; their eyes downcast.

"And I'm sure you all agree that there must be some sort of punishment for your misbehaviour?"

Again, the elflings nodded though some of them now began to fidget in there nervousness; Elrond sounded very stern.

"It is only due to a great deal of convincing by everyone here that your punishment is not being settled by the court. However, should you do anything like this again, I have no guarantee that your sentence will not be much worse than what we have decided."

Legolas began to chew his lip while Lindir tugged at a strand of his hair; could he not just tell them what they must do to fix what they had done?

"For now, until we feel sure that you have learnt your lesson," Elrond paused, emphasizing the last sentence, "You will not be allowed to partake in any aspect of the festival; whether that is the feasts, the dances, or any other celebration that may occur. Instead, you will spend every afternoon and evening helping in any way to clean up. You will also have a strict curfew, and it is expected that you keep your wanderings outside of your dwelling places to a minimum. Any infringement on these guidelines will result in further consequences. Also, should your behavior not improve, your punishments will become much stricter and be extended until you learn from your folly. Is that understood?"

The elflings nodded, all were looking chastised, but rather relieved; this was a much better punishment than what they had been expecting. Just when they were certain that they were free to go however, Elrond spoke up once more, "And Elrohir and Elladan, you will spend the rest of your morning learning from Erestor as to how to properly clean a carpet. You will then apply your new skill to every carpet you can find in the Last Homely House."

Elrohir and Elladan groaned.

~.-Later that Day-.~

Legolas, Lindir, and Haldir stood before large buckets of soapy water. At their sides where large piles of dirty dishes and in the background was the everyday kitchen clamor of food being prepared and the crackling of the fires being used to prepare the food. Just as they seemed to making a dent in their mountains of dishes (they might have passed for hills now), a door banged open and Elrohir and Elladan came in carrying two trays laden with even more filthy glasses, cutlery, and china. The three other elflings promptly groaned in unison upon seeing them.

"When will it end?" Legolas scowled, grabbing another plate to wash.

"Never, by the looks of it," Lindir answered, scrubbing at a particularly stubborn piece of food.

"I think we need to switch jobs," Elrohir panted, "My arms feel like they're about to fall off."

"What!? You think we're fairing any better!?" Legolas cried indignantly, "Look at my hands!" He held them up in front of Elrohir, who winced. They were red and wrinkled from being in the water so long, and his fingers were worn raw from scrubbing.

"And my father always said that a bit of hard work never hurt anyone," Lindir stated dryly.

Elrohir scoffed, "Yeah right, you should have seen our hands after we finished shaking the dust out of what must have been all the carpets in Imladris. I have two words for you: rug burn. It also didn't help that we kept inhaling all the dust we shook out of the carpets."

"Oh yeah, I forgot you had to do that. I take it that it didn't go very well?" Lindir asked, looking sympathetic.

"Can anything go well when you have Erestor breathing down your neck?" Elladan scowled.

"He's just bitter," Elrohir stated in a mock whisper, "Half way through the ordeal he accidently tried to pick up a carpet Erestor was standing on."

Legolas, Lindir, and Haldir all cringed, though whether it was for Erestor or the lecture Elladan surely must have received was debatable.

"So what happened?" Legolas asked curiously.

Elrohir snorted, "You can probably guess; Erestor did a spectacular face-plant, and once his nose stopped bleeding, Elladan received what must have been a ten minute talking to, if it even can be classified as that."

"Go on," Lindir completely abandoned the spot of stubborn food he had been scrubbing at and leaned forward, wanting to hear more.

"He was yelling so loudly that most of what he said was completely unintelligible," Elrohir chuckled.

"It isn't funny," Elladan growled, "My ears still hurt. Though the fact he could barely speak for the rest of the morning was a bit of a bonus," he added thoughtfully.

The elflings snickered, but immediately broke off when an elf chastised them and told them to get back to work. Legolas, Haldir, and Lindir quickly got back to scrubbing their dishes and the twins soon joined them.

"On a different note," began Legolas blandly, "My father got inspiration from Lord Elrond and decided I also need further discipline. I am now sentenced to go to all meetings with him, when we get back home, in hopes I learn the responsibilities of a true elvish Prince and stop taking part in what he considers to be foolishness."

Elrohir snorted, "If he wanted to stop you from being 'foolish' then all he would have to do is ban you from seeing us. We're the only reasons you did any of the stuff you did."

"Don't tell him that!" Legolas exclaimed sounding completely serious, "I don't want him to get any ideas!"

Elrohir rolled his eyes, but nodded, "How about you, Lindir and Haldir, did your parents and brothers devise any further schemes to keep you from taking part in 'foolishness'?"

Lindir groaned while Haldir nodded sadly.

"Good, we would have been horrified at their parenting if they hadn't," Legolas announced, surveying a plate to see if it was clean enough.

"Which I suppose is code for 'We would have been so jealous we would have never spoken to you again?'" Elladan asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Possibly."

"Well, there is no need to go and abandon our friendship; my father banned me from going on any patrols," Lindir continued to scrub at a speck of food that was refusing to come off.

Legolas looked up; confused, "I though you didn't like patrolling?"

"Your right, I don't, and when he saw that I was taking the whole thing rather too well for his liking, he then proceeded to forbid me from touching my harp or my flute," Lindir answered glumly before finally holding up his plate in triumph when the spot of food came off of it.

Elladan looked sympathetic, "Do you know for how long?"

"No, he hasn't told me yet; I think he enjoys letting me worry about it. Not that I'm going to be able to play them for a long time anyways at this rate," Lindir frowned; yanking a splinter he had received from the wooden tub out of his sore hand.

"Ah, well, must be awful to be you," stated Elrohir in less than compassionate manner, causing Lindir to glare at him, "Anyways, what did your brother's force you to do Haldir?"

Haldir looked melancholy and sniffled, "I had to let Fuzzy go."

There was a slight pause as the other four elflings stared at Haldir a tried to judge how they should react to this. Finally, Legolas spoke up, "Well, that's too bad, but I'm sure Fuzzy will be happy in his natural habitat," he proceeded to pat Haldir on the shoulder and promptly got Haldir's shirt wet; having been cleaning cutlery only moments before. Haldir didn't seem to mind however and just stared sadly into his tub of water while absentmindedly scrubbing at a bowl.

Lindir winced; Haldir was clearly taking the loss of his pet hard, "So," he said quickly, trying to change the subject, "Does anyone know what happened to Doronor, Lalvon, and Toron?"

"Yes," Legolas nodded," I asked my father. So far they have been prevented from doing their duties as servants to the king for an unknown amount of time. My father says it's not going to be permanent though."

Elladan let out a sigh of relief. It was good to know that their misbehavior hadn't resulted in the loss of the three servants jobs, that was, after all, what they had been trying to prevent in the first place.

For a few more minutes the five elflings scrubbed away at their dishes in silence, and then Elrohir spoke up, looking thoughtful, "Well, at least there's an upside to all this."

The other four elflings stared at him; certain that he had gone insane.

"And what is that?" Legolas asked raising an eyebrow.

"We don't have to dance with any girls."

~.-The End -.~

***Sniffle* it's over ****. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it! Please review. :D**


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